Fountain of Memories
by Fortywinx
Summary: Five years after the events of the game, and the group are heading to Wutai for a reunion. Little do they know that an unexpected savior will turn out to be more than she seems. I'm not sure the story warrants the high censor, but it's better to be safe.
1. Reunion

Fountain Of Memories ****

Fountain Of Memories

Chapter 1: Reunion

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Disclaimer: I do not own any Final Fantasy 7 characters, they all belong to Squaresoft.

It was raining. Vincent shivered slightly as rain dribbled down his spine. He shifted the sack on his shoulder, and quickened his pace. Looking down from the worn mountain path he followed, he could see the roaring waterfall and the dark churning pool below it. Vincent smiled grimly. Home, or at least as much of a home as _he_ needed. Mind you, part of him said, you spent 20 years living in a coffin. In comparison, this is a palace.

He began to make his way down the treacherous path.

Stepping behind the waterfall, Vincent stopped suddenly. A figure was stood at the other end of the cave. Standing over _her_ place.

Vincent felt the rage well up inside him. How dare this person come to this cave. This place where her memory lingered. This person's presence was…sacrilegious to her memory. 

Vincent drew his gun with one swift movement and fired. The figure moved with incredible speed and dived out of the way. Vincent fired again, but the figure rolled and came up firing a gun too.

Vincent ducked behind a rock for cover until the firing stopped briefly. He stood to fire again, and the stranger hit him in the head with a kick, throwing him backwards.

Vincent lay there and stared at the cloaked figure as it came and stood over him. The light from the dying fire Vincent had lit earlier dimly illuminated the hood of the strangers cloak.

A glimpse of blonde hair and strange blue eyes was all Vincent saw, before the figure moved.

'Cloud?' Vincent said muzzily. 

The figure shied away like a frightened cat at the name, and backed towards the cave entrance before turning and running out into the darkness.

When the cave had stopped spinning around him, Vincent sat up. His head was pounding, and he could feel a bump forming where the strangers boot had connected with his forehead.

Sighing, he rekindled the fire and set the contents of the sack over it to cook. He realised now that the figure hadn't been Cloud. The eyes had been blue but they weren't bright blue of Cloud's, they had seemed…older, and more tired.

Something at the other end of the cave caught Vincents eye. Surely the stranger hadn't thrown their rubbish down in here? Walking over to the platform where She had spent her last days, Vincent knelt and picked up the thing between two fingers. The flower shimmered in the flickering flames.

* * *

Cloud prodded the campfire with a stick moodily. He had a bandage around his left arm. He scratched it absently, and winced at the pain. Bloody stupid Skeeskee had jumped him while he'd been stalking a rabbit. He lay back and stared up at the twinkling stars. 

That's your life now Cloud Strife, he thought to himself. You can save the world from an evil, silver-haired maniac but you can't catch supper. What a sad loser you are.

Something scuffed the sand and pebbles nearby, and Cloud was on his feet instantly, the Buster Sword held ready in his hand. 

The cloaked figure raised its hands to show that it was unarmed. Cloud lowered the sword, but kept it in his hand.

'Can I help you?' He said suspiciously.

The figure turned and stared out over the canyon towards the horizon.

'The stars are so beautiful tonight.' The figure sighed, 'Just like that night in Nibelheim…'

Cloud narrowed his eyes, 'What night in Nibelheim?'

The figure seemed to take no notice, 'I loved her so much, and I left her on a night like this. Seeking glory like my brother.'

Cloud frowned, 'What brother? What are you talking about? Why are you telling me this?' Cloud felt that he was being regarded by a pair of eyes he could not see in the shadows of the hood.

The stranger shrugged, 'He is dead now, as is Charlotte.'

Cloud jumped at the name, 'Charlotte?'

'They're all gone. Dead. All I have left is memories and one other who does not even know of my existence.' The figure carried on, ignoring him.

Cloud looked away for a moment, 'Yes, Charlotte of Nibelheim is dead. She died 8 years ago, in a fire.' 

'Yes, I know. It took me a long time but I know a lot about what happened to Charlotte, and my brother.'

Cloud gritted his teeth, 'How do you know so much about my mother?' The figure was silent. 

Cloud stepped forward and grabbed the strangers arm. He felt muscles flex under his fingers, and was knocked to the floor by a blow to his chin.

The stranger glanced at him, and walked away from the firelight.

Cloud sat up blearily, with his hand on the Buster Sword. There was no sign of the stranger in the shadows surrounding the cave. Cloud sighed sadly, and put the sword down. Laying back, he stared up at the stars again. Charlotte……Mother……

* * *

Yuffie stared out of the window of her house, and sighed loudly. Flopping back onto the floor, she looked around at her room. Gawd, it wasn't like the old days. Admittedly Wutai had grown in size, and was no longer a quiet little tourist town, but since materia was no longer really needed, Yuffie found her life filled greatly changed from the way she had lived as a ninja.

She smiled proudly at the Conformer which hung on the wall. Not that she'd had much chance to use it since they'd killed Sephiroth, Yuffie had spent the last five years being taught the ways of Wutain lore in readiness for the time when she would have to take over. It was so boring at first that Yuffie had tried all kinds of things to get out of her lessons, but after awhile she had begun to find the teachings…interesting, even so, she still she longed for the 'old days'.

She hadn't seen the rest of the group together since the day they had parted ways 5 years ago. She had spoken to most of them on the phone, and had even visited Tifa, but what she really wanted was to see them all again, especially…someone in particular.

A reunion! Yuffie sat up so fast she lost her balance and ended up sprawled on her front. Clambering up, she reached for the phone. Yes! Brilliant! She'd organise a reunion for them all, here at Wutai. It'd be great to see everyone again, and it would certainly be good to see how everyone had got on over these past few years.

'Hi Teef, it's me Yuffie. I wonder if you can help me with something…'

* * *

Clear blue sky, beat down onto Yuffie's dark head. She was nervously pacing the docks at Junon, waiting for them. 

The first to arrive was Tifa. Yuffie greeted her with a hug, carefully restraining the urge to babble insanely, and give her a bearhug.

Reeve and Barret appeared together, and Cid shortly afterwards. Yuffie stood and looked urgently over the crowded docks for signs of the rest.

'Waiting for someone in particular Yuffie?' Tifa said, with an evil grin on her face. Yuffie could have quite happily strangled her friend when the others all looked questioningly at her.

'No, I'm erm…just worried that they won't be here on time…' She stuttered, and then saw the fiery glow of Red's tail heading towards their group, and just behind him Cloud and……Vincent.

'I found him in a cave near Cosmo Canyon,' Said Red, as he strolled up to the group on his four paws.

Cloud looked a little sheepishly at the others, 'Hi guys.'

Tifa stepped forward and hugged him fiercely.

Yuffie was staring at Vincent. His red cloak was still evident, but it hung loosely around his shoulders, revealing his face more. The bandanna around his head was gone, and his long dark hair was tied back away from his face. His eyes….he was staring at her too.

Yuffie felt herself blush, and she smoothed the front of her ceremonial robe nervously. She looked away quickly when his eyes met hers.

The ferry behind them, honked its horn loudly, and they all began to troop on board for the long trip to Wutai.

Yuffie stared at the frothing water below glumly, leaning over the rail cradling her head in her hands. She still suffered from travel sickness, despite the amount of times she had travelled by air or sea. She heard footsteps on the deck behind her, but didn't bother to turn from the rail.

'Hey Vincent,' She said wearily. Of all the times to come and say hello, he had to choose the one where there was a very good chance she would puke on his shoes. She felt him lean on the rail beside her. 

'How did you know it was me?' He said in that deep, quiet voice that made Yuffie feel...weird.

She sighed, 'I am a ninja y'know. I'd recognise the footsteps of any of you guys,' She paused thoughtfully, 'Well except possibly Reeve.'

Chancing it she raised her head slightly to look at him. He was looking at her oddly, and then he shrugged slightly. 

'You've changed Yuffie.'

'Well, I'm older now, I have more on my mind than stealing materia and not getting caught.' She said wryly, looking back at the grey water below.

Vincent made a noise almost like a chuckle, and Yuffie looked at him in amazement. He was smiling! Admittedly it was a sort of, half-crooked smile, but nonetheless, Yuffie had never seen Vincent smile before.

'Bad weather coming in.' He said, staring out over the water. Yuffie raised her head just enough to see dark storm clouds scudding across the sky, before she felt rain begin to fall.

'Let's get inside.' She said, turning carefully and walking unsteadily towards the lounge area.

* * *

Huge waves rose over the madly bobbing ferry, as the torrential rain raged down from the heavens, and thunder rattled anything that wasn't held down.

The group sat nervously in the small lounge area, hardly saying a word as the storm tossed the ferry around like a plastic toy.

A sudden lurch sent the passengers crashing to one side, and the lights flickered and died. A crewman ran in and yelled something incoherently, before running back out onto the deck.

The sudden rush for the door, caused chaos, and the next lurch sent two people smashing through the window. 

Cloud ran out onto the deck, holding Tifa's hand tightly so she wouldn't be lost in the confusion. People were climbing onto lifeboats, fighting to be the first on. Cloud could hear the rest of the group behind them, and started to push his way over to the lifeboats.

A sudden hush went over the people, and Cloud looked around urgently. A wave ten times taller than the ferry was steadily rising on the starboard side. The spell broke, and the passengers began trying to get lifejackets and into lifeboats with a new urgency.

The grey wall rose over the boat, and the ferry lurched again, as it rose with the swell of the wave. Screams echoed over the deck as people were thrown overboard, into the dark water below. Cloud gritted his teeth, and held Tifa tightly as they gripped the slippery handrail. 

A yell from Vincent caused Cloud to look up. Yuffie was hanging from the rail, legs dangling over the massive amount of space between her and the water. Her face was a mask of terror, and Vincent and Cid were trying to pull her back up. Cloud heard cloth rip, and the last he saw of his young friend was a picture of her with her eyes tightly closed, as she plunged towards the sea.

He thought he heard someone yell her name, but the roaring of the massive wave behind him drowned out any sound. The wave hit.

Cloud opened his eyes to a grey-green world, and fought his way to the surface. Just as he thought his lungs would burst with the effort, he rose from the water and took a deep gulp of air, before something hit his head, and he sank again. Again he clawed his way to the surface, and this time came up beside the object which had made his head ring. It was a surf board, probably someone had planned to use it at the Costa del Sol. Cloud dragged himself onto the board as best he could. His head was throbbing, and his eyes closed of their own accord.

He realised he was in the water again, he also realised he had no strength left to swim. Through the blanket of sleep, he realised that someone had an arm around his waist, and was pulling him through the water. He smiled slightly and fell back into the arms of sleep.

Sunlight warmed his body, and he could feel someone shaking him gently to wake him. Opening his eyes, Cloud just had time to take in his surroundings. He was lying on sand, he could feel it under his back. Palm trees nearby, waved lazily in the pleasant breeze.

A face filled his vision, as the person who had been shaking him leaned over to look at him. Cloud felt his fists clench with fear as he stared into a pair of bright green eyes he recognised very well.

Sephiroth…….

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Authors Notes: Oooh Sephy returns duh-duh-DUH! I love suspense don't you? Look if you've read this and want me to continue please review, so I know that people actually care. I've already written several other chapters, but they aren't going up until I get some nice reviews from all you lovely people.  
LOL

PS, for anyone interested I've added a new chapter to another one of my fics, 'A Daughter To Be Proud Of', and will be trying to carry on work with that one.


	2. Old Foe, New Face

Fountain of Memories 2 ****

Fountain of Memories

Chapter 2: Old Foe, New Face

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Disclaimer: I do not own any of the FF7 characters, I am not making any money from this, Squaresoft probably are though…*grumbles* 

The blonde haired boy stared out of the window at the grey city below. The eight Mako reactors around the edge filled the already polluted air with a strange green luminence.

He went crashing to the floor suddenly as a blur of silver and blue rammed into him. The two boys rolled across the carpeted floor, until finally the blonde one gave in.

The boy with silver hair sat back laughing, to release the other boy who glared at him.

'I wish you wouldn't do that Seph, it hurt!' He said, sitting up.

The younger boy laughed, 'Hojo just let me out from the lab, he's got some really weird stuff down there now you know, like the monster-man.'

'Did he do anything bad this time?' The blonde boy asked.

The other boy shrugged, 'Only some injections, and some strange tests to do with reflexes I think he said.'

There was a timid knock at the door of the small ShinRa apartment. And the older boy stood up to get it.

A group of children of varying ages stood crowded there, a small girl was pushed to the front.

'Can you and Seph come out to play today Linus?' She said shyly, flicking one of her plaits back over her shoulder.

Linus nodded, and called for the silver-haired boy who was sat staring out of the window. He turned and grinned running out of the room into the gaggle of chattering children. Linus carefully shut the door, and joined them.

The sound of laughing children could be heard, echoing through the dreary halls of the Shinra building for the rest of the day.

* * *

Cloud sat up with jolt, and the face, which had been peering at him, skittered away like a frightened animal. He frowned, and realised his mistake. There were a few differences between this person and Sephiroth. The most notable difference was that this person, was a girl.

Her face was oval like his, with a pair of angular green eyes so like the ones that had haunted Clouds dreams for 5 years. Her hair was pale, but unlike Sephiroth's silver sheen, her hair had a golden colouration when the sunshine hit it. Cloud realised why it had been so obvious she was a girl, and began to blush. She wasn't wearing much, and what she was wearing had been so weathered by the salty air, that it was practically see through. At the moment she was crouched beside a large tropical bush, watching him fearfully.

He felt that comment was called for, 'Umm...Thank you for saving me…'

She looked at him puzzled, and then smiled slightly, 'You're welcome.' She spoke hesitantly, like she hadn't spoken for a long time, and was trying to remember how it was done.

'Sorry if I startled you, I thought you were someone else.' He stood and looked around. 'Have you seen any of my friends, perhaps they washed up here…'

The girl nodded her head emphatically and took his hand, 'Come with me, I saved them too.' She beamed at him.

Cloud nodded uncertainly, and smiled back as he was pulled across the golden sand.

* * *

Tifa opened her eyes to intense golden light. Ah, so she was dead. Perhaps it meant she would see Aeris again. It wasn't until a seagull veered across her vision that Tifa realised that what she was in fact looking at was the sky.

The sun was so bright that it seemed to make the whole sky glow yellow, although the blue on the horizon was a beautiful cornflower colour.

She sat up to see two figures sitting nearby talking to each other.

Cloud and….Sephiroth? Except…except it obviously wasn't Sephiroth when you looked closer.

Tifa stood unsteadily, and made her way over to them, plonking herself down beside Cloud. She looked curiously at the girl.

Cloud smiled slighlty, 'This is Aurora, she saved us. This is her island, she's the only one here.'

'Oh…that's good is it?' Realising how ungrateful she must sound, she hastily smiled at Aurora and said, 'Thank you for saving us, we'd have drowned otherwise.'

The girl smiled, and nodded.

Cloud turned to her, 'Reeve had his PHS with him, but it's totally screwed thanks to its swim. He thinks that his people will hear about the accident and come looking for him. He just wishes that he could contact them to say he was alive.'

Aurora frowned puzzled, 'Reeve's 'people'? Reeve is nice man, does he have people work for him?'

Cloud nodded, 'Reeve is President of NeoShinRa Incorporated. I'm sure his people will find us.'

Aurora looked frightened at the mention of the word 'ShinRa'. 'Do you mean President Shinra?'

Tifa smiled at the girl, 'No, President Shinra died nearly 6 years ago. Reeve was elected by the people after he helped save Midgar.'

'I remember Midgar…..I used to live there with Mom and Papa.' The girl said sadly, her green eyes staring wistfully over the ocean.

Cloud glanced at Tifa before looking back at Aurora, 'You lived in Midgar? Did you live in the slums?'

Aurora shook her head, 'No, we lived in a big tall building. It was dull, but I used to play with the other children while mom and papa worked.' She looked sad again.

A loud curse from nearby, and a strange crackle of electricity made them jump.

Cloud grinned, 'Sounds like Cid's having fun with the PHS.'

Tifa tried to cover her smile as Cid stumped out of the trees, and glared at them. His light hair seemed to be trying to stand on end, and he was holding a screwdriver with a blackened tip.

She looked at Cloud, 'So am I the last to wake up?'

'Nope. Yuffie's still out cold …' He was cut off by Tifa's gasp of surprise.

'Yuffie survived? I thought she would have drowned when she fell into that water. Those waves….' Tifa shuddered involuntarily at the memory of the huge green wall of water closing over her.

Cloud nodded, 'Yeah, she survived. Vincent's keeping an eye on her.' 

Tifa raised an eyebrow, 'Vincent? Well I didn't see that coming…'

* * *

Vincent sat on a rock, and stared out over the blue sea. He sighed and glanced back at where Yuffie was lying, eyes closed and breathing deeply.

He realised how serene she looked in sleep, and how peaceful. A single strand of hair had wormed its way from the bun at the back of her head, and was flopped across her face, blowing ever so gently in the slight breeze.

Vincent watched her for some moments before leaning forwards and carefully brushing the strand of hair away with his hand. She opened her eyes just as he tucked it behind her ear.

They stared at each other for a moment. Neither moving at all, and suddenly the spell broke and Vincent jumped back, apologising for startling her, while she sat up with a curse, and tried to apologise for upsetting _him_.

Yuffie jumped at a loud crackle and a yell. From the language it sounded like Cid had just become really pissed off with something. Vincent helped her up, and they headed towards the others.

Cid was standing near the trees, brandishing a blacked screwdriver at Cloud and Tifa who were laughing at his new hairdo, while another girl, who looked a lot like someone Yuffie couldn't place right now, was seated nearby smiling slightly confusedly.

Tifa spotted Yuffie and Vincent and called them over, and hugged Yuffie fiercly and gave Vincent a knowing wink which, to Yuffie's secret delight, made him blush and look away. 

Barret and Reeve appeared at sunset with armfuls of dry wood, and any other equipment they'd managed to salvage from the water. Red came out of the trees a short while later carrying a medium sized deer-like creature in his jaws.

A triumphant yell from Cid, made them stop their talk and turn to look at him expectantly as he walked out from the trees with the PHS in his hand..

Reeve came over and took it from him, dialling a number. A crackly voice came over the reciever,

'Hello. Presidents office how may I help you?'

'Mikel! It's me Reeve……'

There was an astonished silence on the end, 'Sir! We've been searching for you everywhere. We thought you had died in the ferry accident.' There was an alarming crackle from the PHS.

'Listen Mike, this is important. Cid managed to get the PHS working, but it's still on its last legs. We're stranded on a tropical island, you'll have to get people out here soon.'

'Ok sir. We'll send out the helicopter as soon as we can……..bad weather st ill about……feryy sank…….ar the Anci………emple….' The PHS went dead, and Reeve lowered his arm and shrugged sadly.

'C'mon Reeve, they'll be searchin for us tonight. No need to worry about that.' Said Tifa, 'We'll all be home by tomorrow.'

'You're going?' Said the white-haired girl, 'You leave Aurora here by herself again?'

Cloud shook his head, 'No of course we wouldn't leave you Aurora. You saved us all. We want to take you back to Midgar with us.'

Aurora looked uneasy again, 'You won't take me back to the scary tall building will you? The lady who killed my papa is there.'

Vincent frowned, 'What's this 'scary tall building' you're talking about?'

'It's on top of Midgar. It belong to ShinRa. I lived there with my mom and papa until me and mom left, because my papa was dead,' The girl frowned, 'Except he wasn't, because he came and told my mom to leave, to run away so he couldn't harm her…'

The group looked around at each other, and Cloud sighed, 'Lets get some sleep and you can tell us your story in the morning Aurora.'

The girl nodded and lay back, ' I like telling stories. Goodnight everyone.' 

The moon rose over the sleeping heroes, and lit up the landscape with a pale glow. The girl with the white hair stood up quietly, and walked off a way. A beautiful patch of flowers with a plaque of stone, smoothed by the motions of the sea, placed in the center. The name on the tablet read, 'Namaya Keisatsu'.

The girl knelt and bowed her head, 'Mother…' If someone listening, had strained their ears they might have heard the sound of someone sobbing very quietly… 

__

Authors Notes: Aaargh! I've just noticed a major timewarp in FF7 which is really gonna mess up the story unless I explain. In the game, we see Vincent as a grown Turk pleading Lucrecia not to have Sephiroth right? In the game manual it says that Vincent is 27 years old during the events of FF7. Since we must assume that Vincy was at least 16 when arguing with Lucrecia, Sephy is at least 16 years younger than Vincy. Anyone else notice the slight age problem here? (Work out how old Sephy would be during FF7 if Vincy was 27):   
Ok, so this is my theory which kinda works, and I can also play around with their ages a bit. I decided that Vincy was 27 when Hojo stuck him in the coffin and that he didn't age during his time in there, the same goes for when Sephy was in the glacier, ok? Right…with that said I will continue and try and explain the timeline as I go (I spent ages trying to sort this out myself, sad eh?).

Thanx to everyone who r&r the first chapter. See I'm being nice and posting the second chapter only a couple of days later! But I'm gonna be evil and do the same thing…muahahahaaa….I won't post the next bit till I get some luverly reviews!

LOL


	3. The Girl With White Hair

****

Fountain of Memories

Chapter 3: The Girl With White Hair

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Diclaimer: I don't own any Final Fantasy 7 characters and I'm not getting any money from this, please don't rub my nose in this fact.

The morning sun shone down on the 9 people sitting on the beach. Eight of them were looking at Aurora expectantly. She cleared her throat nervously and began.

She had spent the early part of her life living in an apartment with her mother and father. Her parents worked for ShinRa, her father as a SOLDIER, meaning he was rarely around, and her mother as some kind of office worker.

Her mother had looked after her when she wasn't working, but at all other times Aurora had been left to her own devices. Usually she would leave the apartment to play with the children of the other employees in the corridors of what the others had deduced to be the ShinRa building above Midgar.

She remembered being taken to see Professor Hojo, who put needles in her and did strange tests on her while her mother held her hand. Aurora's memories of her father were hazy, he hadn't been around very much, but one of the things she did speak of was a time when the whole family had gone out of Midgar for a picnic, and she remembered being thrown into the air, screaming and laughing to be caught by a pair of strong arms belonging to someone who laughed with her.

Then, when she was about 10 years old, she remembered her mother begging her father not to go on a mission he had been given by ShinRa. Her father had told her mother that he had to go. His job in SOLDIER was his life, and he would do whatever ShinRa demanded of him. It was the only time Aurora could remember her parents arguing, or as close as they ever came to it.

During her father's absence, her mother became more and more depressed and saddened, until finally, 6 months later, message arrived that her father had died.

Aurora couldn't remember a funeral, although she remembered a blonde haired man visiting, and her mother crying sadly on his shoulder. He seemed very sad too, as if he had just lost a loved one.

About a year after this, Aurora was awoken by a strange green glow coming from her mother's room. Sneaking to the door, she saw her father standing over her mother's prone form, his sword held high above his head. He was the source of the glow, and seemed to be fighting a battle that Aurora couldn't see.

Finally he gasped, and lowered the weapon and between gritted teeth he told her mother to go far away where he couldn't find her, so that 'She' couldn't hurt her. Her father disappeared in a flash of green light, and her mother had began to sob.

That night, Aurora was bundled into warm clothes, and by morning they were aboard a boat which had left from a place with a huge gun above it. Aurora hadn't been told where it was going, only that it was somewhere new. A storm brewed up that night and the boat they had been travelling on had been sunk.

Aurora and her mother had washed up on this shore, and had lived here together quite happily until about 5 years ago when her mother had caught a strange illness, and had died. Aurora had lived alone ever since, with no one to talk to, and no one to help her.

The others were silent for a time, digesting all this information about this sad girls life.

Cloud looked up frowning, 'You're father was a SOLDIER? Can you remember what his name was?'

Aurora looked thoughtful for a moment, 'I remember it began with an 'S', but that's all. My mother' name was Namaya.' She added helpfully.

'How come you can't remember your father's name when you were nearly 10 when he left?' Tifa asked

Aurora shrugged, 'I never asked, and besides most people just called him 'sir'.'

The sound of a helicopter coming closer, caused all thoughts to be discarded as they all jumped up and waved frantically in the direction of the small dot which was steadily getting closer.

* * *

The blue sea sped quickly beneath them as the helicopter headed towards Junon. Aurora peered out of the window to watch her home of 9 years disappear on the horizon.

'Goodbye Mother…' She whispered, before turning to face forward again.

All of the others were chattering excitedly at the prospect of seeing their loved ones again, but Aurora wondered what awaited her when she reached the place of her birth. She remembered the name Junon, it was the place where her and mother had caught the boat on that night 9 years ago.

When the land came into view, Aurora noticed that things had changed quite a lot. Gone was the huge gun, and the city above. Junon was a sprawling city now, which sparkled in the sunlight, as windows and metal reflected their light.

People awaited them at the port. A young girl ran into Barret's arms, crying and talking so fast that Aurora couldn't hear her. Tifa hugged a young girl who was dressed in a waitresses uniform, and also hugged the young girl with Barret. Reeve was met by several people in dark blue uniforms. Two children, and a dark haired woman wearing a lab coat leapt on Cid, while several strangely dressed people welcomed Red. Yuffie yelled joyfully and ran into the arms of a tall dark haired man.

Aurora wandered off to stare out at the ocean over a railing nearby. She felt someone come and stand beside her, and looked around. It was Vincent.

'Is there nobody here to meet you Vincent?' She asked timidly.

Vincent shook his head sadly, 'No, the only other person who I considered friend enough to welcome me home, died some time ago.'

'Who was this other person?'

Vincent stared out over the sea as the wind made his dark hair dance about his face and head, 'Her name was Lucrecia. She was Sephiroth's mother.'

Aurora frowned suddenly, 'Sephiroth? That was what Cloud shouted out when he first saw me. Who is Sephiroth?'

'He was the result of an experiment to combine human with a being known as Jenova. He went insane and tried to take over the world under Jenova's control.'

'Why was he made part Jenova?' Aurora asked, still frowning.

'Professor Hojo wanted to create a super soldier, a perfect fighting machine so he combined the Jenova cells with a human foetus,' Vincent sighed at Aurora's blank look, 'A baby, while it was still in it's mother's wo….tummy.' Obviously hasn't had certain things explained to her, he thought. I suppose her mother never saw much point, living alone with her on an island.

'And Cloud thought I was Sephiroth?' She said. Something at the back of her mind was trying to get her attention.

Vincent nodded, 'You do look a lot like him, and from what Cloud suffered through what Sephiroth did to a friend of ours…'

'What did he do?' Aurora asked, eyes alight with curiosity.

'We were after Sephiroth because of the plans he had to take over the world. I was in it to get back at Professor Hojo for what he did to Lucrecia. One of our companions, a Cetra named Aeris, sacrificed herself to save us all. She was murdered by Sephiroth.' Vincent's face looked bleak and turned back to his study of the sea, 'That was 5 years ago now, but Cloud's never really got over it.'

Aurora looked sad for a moment, 'My mother died 5 years ago. She got sick, and I couldn't cure her.'

Vincent sighed, 'We've all lost people over these past 10 years.' He saw the others begin to make their way away from the dock, and motioned Aurora to follow. Vincent caught a glimpse of movement in the corner of his eye and swung around. There was nothing there. Frowning, Vincent turned and strode after the others.

A cloaked figure watched them go.

* * *

Linus entered the small apartment and peered around.

'Seph? Seph are you here?' The boy called gently. He could hear someone sobbing quietly.

Walking over towards the window, he saw the younger boy hunched up in the corner, tears running down his face.

Linus sat down in front of him and sighed, 'It wasn't your fault Seph, Rufus shouldn't have been being mean to Namaya and Charlotte. He deserved what he got.' 

Seph raised his face, 'But I didn't mean to hurt him like that Linus. I…I just pushed him, and he went flying.'

'Don't worry, Rufus is just a little snot. Even his mam and papa don't like him.' Linus said disdainfully. His personal view of Rufus went a little further than that. Linus would quite happily throw the kid out of a 30th floor window.

Seph sniffed, dejectedly, 'Hojo thinks that I did good! I thought he was going to tell me off but he just laughed and said that it was good that I was 'improving'. What did he mean Linus?' The older boy handed him a tissue which he blew his nose on, loudly.

'Hojo's just weird. He took me to his lab again the other day, and there's a lady up there in one of those see-through cage thingy's he has. I saw the monster-man too. He was lying in one of the cages, he has a claw!' Linus said, playing with the blind.

Seph nodded, 'Yeah, she's a nice lady. She has pretty greeny-blue eyes. Hojo said she was called Specimen A but she told me that her name was Ilfana when Hojo wasn't looking.'

Linus smiled at the other boy, his upset at hurting Rufus apparently dissipated, 'C'mon let's go and play with the others Seph.'

The younger boy nodded, and stood up and followed his brother out into the corridor.

__

Authors Notes: Hmmm well I hope I managed to reveal a lot more in that chapter. Please r&r if you havn't already because I get quite depressed when I feel I'm not appreciated. Anyone who might have been reading my other stories, I apologise but I have taken them down to redo them. On the basis that they weren't getting anymore reviews despite the extra chapters, I decided they needed to be changed. For now I'm going to focus on this story, but only if I get some nice reviews, else I'll have to go away and eat large amounts of ice-cream to cheer myself up k? LOL.


	4. Homecoming

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Fountain of Memories

Chapter 4: Homecoming

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Disclaimer: I do not own any Final Fantasy 7 chars, they all belong to Squaresoft and they get all the money made off them, ie. I'm not being paid for this.

'Where the hell is Aurora?' Tifa yelled, running into the breakfast room, causing Barret to spill cornflakes down his front, and Yuffie to choke on her coffee.

'Isn't she still in bed?' Cloud asked, getting up from the table, while simultaneously trying to dodge out of the way of Barret who was heading for the sink while leaving a trail of cornflakes and milk.

Tifa shook her head, 'No, I checked. All her bedding's gone, and there's no sign of her.'

Vincent looked up suddenly, he'd been staring out of the window. 'I think I can guess where she is.' 

They found Aurora in the decorative garden which Reeve had ordered planted in memory of a certain flower girl. She was asleep under a tree.

'How did you know she'd be out here Vincent?' Cloud asked, picking the girl up in his arms. She was as light as a feather.

Vincent shrugged, 'If you'd spent the last 10 years sleeping outside, how would you like to spend a night in a stuffy building?' He sighed, 'You should have seen the trouble I had getting used to beds after all that time in the ShinRa mansion.'

Tifa was knelt at one side, peering at the flowers that released a beautiful smell into the air. As she rose, Cloud could see tears in her eyes.

'Teef, what's wrong?' He asked, trying to shift the bundle of bedding and girl he held in his arms so that he could look at Tifa properly. Aurora hadn't even woken up.

'These are…Aeris' flowers. Exactly like the ones in the church. Like the one you gave me that night after your first mission.'

There was an awkward silence in which all of the other members of the group took an advanced study in the sky, or anything else that was handy which meant they didn't have to look at one another. Then Yuffie gasped, and pointed.

The statue rose up from the flowers like a goddess. It was made from white marble, and quite clearly depicted a kneeling girl praying. Water flowed around her legs, and into the small pool just in front of her knees. The gentle trickling noise could barely be heard when the breeze rustled the flowers.

Cloud felt his throat close up as he looked at it. Hesitantly, he walked towards it, flower petals flying around him. There was a plaque on the plinth below.

Aeris Gainsborough

1973 - 1995

For Aeris, who saved us all,

And whose smile, and happiness will

Live on in our hearts, 

For as long as we remember.

'Cloud!' Shouted Tifa, as he spun around and ran from the garden back towards the building. Still carrying Aurora in his arms as easily as if she were a ragdoll.

The others all looked sadly at one another, and headed after him.

* * *

As a welcome home for President Reeve, and the 'heroes' who had been thought dead, an evening reception was being held. Chaos had erupted in the part of the new ShinRa building where the companions had been staying.

Tifa was fussing around Aurora who was coming as well, while Barret and Cid were sitting around looking uncomfortable in their suits. Vincent was nowhere to be found. Yuffie had suddenly reverted to her hyperactive younger self, and was busily bouncing around annoying everyone. Red was trying to keep out of the way. His tail had already been trodden on by an absentminded ShinRa worker, who had received a growl and a reprimand, which had been enough to send the poor woman running from the room screaming at being spoken to by a large cat.

Cloud took the opportunity to clear his head, and so had gone to stand out on the balcony, staring out over the twinkling lights of NeoMidgar. It took him several minutes before he noticed that someone else was standing out on the balcony too.

The cloaked figure grabbed his arms and put a gloved hand over his mouth, as he turned to yell to the others.

'I'm not going to hurt you, so please do not shout to your friends, and please do not try to run away.' The figure said quietly.

Cloud nodded and the stranger released him. 'You're the guy from the desert aren't you?' He said, to the cloaked figure.

'Yes, I have some very important things to tell you, but I have been watching to see if you are ready to except them.' The figure replied from the shadows.

A blur hit the figure, and it rammed into the balcony's barrier. Vincent stood up, his hair flapping in the wind.

'Why have you come here? Why do you stalk me like prey?' Vincent growled, 'Why did you come to 'her' cave?'

'Ah, so many questions, and yet perhaps you are not ready to hear the answers hmm?' The figure replied, peering over the edge.

With a feral roar, Vincent charged at the man again, this time the man went over the balcony dark cloak streaming behind him. A pair of gloved hands grabbed the edge of the balcony.

Cloud grabbed Vincent's arm, 'What the hell are you doing Vincent? Calm down!'

Vincent looked like he was about to hit Cloud, but then the look faded and he stepped back.

'What's this guy done to you to get you so pissed Vincent?' Said Cloud, leaning over the balcony to grab the stranger.

The hood of the cloak had come off revealing a mop of blonde hair. The figure looked up, and Cloud stared into a pair of blue eyes that he had only seen before in a mirror. The older man laughed at Cloud's open mouth, and let go of the balcony.

He dropped the two floors and landed into one of the large bushes that surrounded the new ShniRa building. Cloud didn't see him climb out of the bushes, nor did he hear him.

Cloud turned to Vincent, 'Ok, this is the bit where you explain why you attack mysterious dark strangers I'm talking to.' He looked around, 'And also how you got here.'

Vincent looked away, ' I caught him in Lucrecia's cave awhile ago.'

'What was he doing?' Cloud asked patiently.

Vincent shrugged, 'I attacked him because I thought he was desecrating her shrine. He…he left a flower on her grave.'

'So you attacked him for it?' Cloud looked around, 'You were on the roof right? Trying to keep out of the way.'

'I…I don't know why I attacked him. It was…instinct almost.' Vincent looked a little sheepish, 'You know how…touchy I am when it comes to 'her'.'

Cloud nodded, and sighed. 'Never mind, I'm sure he'll be back, although I don't think knocking him over a balcony is gonna make him any happier Vincent…'

A shout from Tifa in the room, told the two men that it was time to go.

* * *

The room was full of people. All in their best clothes, and all chattering quietly in small groups.

When Aurora entered all eyes turned towards her. It would have been hard to miss her. Tifa had shoved her into a bath, and had brushed and combed all the sand and grit out of her hair until it seemed to glow. Her dress was a pale lilac colour that contrasted perfectly with her eyes.

People began muttering amongst themselves, and Aurora caught the name 'Sephiroth' several times. Blushing, she made her way through the room, to where she could see Barret towering above everyone else. 

A band in the corner started up, and the floor cleared slightly as people moved to the edge of the room to allow people to dance.

Aurora stood to the side as she watched her new friends dance. 

Barret had brought Marlene along, and she was trying to act grown up and was dancing with her daddy, causing much giggling and cries of 'Oh how sweet!' from the women in the room. Cloud, had asked Tifa to dance, and they were now waltzing gently around the room, apparently deep in conversation. Yuffie had dragged Vincent onto the dancefloor, where she proceeded to teach him how to dance. Cid and the woman who Aurora now knew to be his wife, Shera, were talking to another couple across the other side of the room, and Red had disappeared over towards the buffet table.

Aurora smiled happily. It was so wonderful to have new friends, and to be listen to the chatter of real people. She scanned the room, and saw Reeve with a group of other important looking men. He was looking in her direction, and raised his wine glass with a smile when he saw her look in his direction. She smiled back, when suddenly the world seemed to lurch. Aurora heard a wineglass smash.

Something in the North Crater stirred….

Darkness……someone was saying her name. It was a woman's voice, or at least what a female snake might sound like if it could talk.

'Aurora….Aurora, you have returned. I have found you at last…….' 

She felt like something was raking through her mind, and threw up immediate barriers.

'Ah yes…powerful like you're father. I can control you too I think, although perhaps your will is stronger….It is no matter, you will bend your will to mine, or it will be broken.'

Someone was shaking her, and saying her name again. Urgently, over and over again. It was a man's voice. Aurora opened her eyes. Reeve was knelt beside her, looking over her concernedly.

'I'm alright,' She said shakily. She sat up and looked around. Most people in the room were looking in her direction, and murmuring quietly to one another. 'Sorry, I think I just had a dizzy spell.' She saw the wineglass smashed on the floor. Her glass of course.

'Can you stand?' Reeve asked, offering his arm as support.

'I think so…' Aurora tried to stand but her legs gave way. She felt so drained! Like she'd been on a 25 mile run with no stops. She allowed herself to be carried to her room and placed on her bed.

Despite the stuffiness of the room, Aurora fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

__

Authors Note: Well I thought that chapter was ok. What did you think? R&R please, coz I know how much everyone loves writing them for me. Next chapter up soon (it's already written), but only if I get some reviews. LOL.


	5. The Terror From The Sky

****

Fountain of Memories

Chapter 5: The Terror From The Sky

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Disclaimer: I do not own any of the FF7 chars (damn Square! They're always one step ahead……well several steps really…wow I've had too much sugar today) and I'm not getting any money from this.

Aurora awoke with a start and sat bolt upright in her bed. The sheets of the bed were tangled around her legs, and sweat was pouring from her. Her breaths came in ragged gasps, and she tried to calm herself. Getting up she staggered over to the bathroom. Yanking open the door she gaped at the scene that met her.

There was blood in the sink, and smeared on the floor. It looked as though someone had tried to clean themselves up after a particularly vicious fight. A huge sword was leaned against the wall. It was covered with blood to the hilt, and looked like it had recently been used to dice something meaty.

Aurora dived for the toilet and after spending several minutes being violently sick, she got to her feet unsteadily.

Who would do something like this? She thought to herself as she tried to rinse the sink using a flannel, and then used it on the floor. Not wishing to touch the sword, she prodded it into the shower where it was rinsed off by the water. Realising she too was now covered in blood, she pulled off the dress she had worn the previous night and shoved it into the shower, not really knowing what else to do with it.

She staggered over to the bed and sat down heavily. She still couldn't think why anyone would do this and leave that…mess in her bathroom. Someone must have come into her room while she was asleep! Aurora wrapped her arms around herself, suddenly feeling even more unsafe as she tucked her knees up to her chin.

After breathing deeply and trying to stay calm, she opened the door of the bathroom once more, and stepped inside to turn off the shower. Removing the sopping dress and bloody flannel she pushed them into the laundry chute, before returning to the shower. The sword gleamed silver in the weak sunlight from the window. Aurora frowned, this sword…she recognised it. A knock at the door caused her to jump away from the shower guiltily. Sliding the panel across, she shouted 'I'll be right there!' and pulled on some of the clothes that Tifa had given her, before running to the door.

* * *

Reeve picked up the loudly bleeping phone and held it to his ear.

'Yes?' He said, slightly impatiently.

'Sir! They've found a body in Professor Hojo's lab.' Said the voice of his secretary urgently.

Reeve shuddered in revulsion. They'd found lots of dead bodies in Hojo's lab when he'd first become President. All carefully preserved so that Hojo could do more experiments on them. 'I thought we'd removed all of Hojo's experiments.' He said.

'No sir, this isn't one of Hojo's specimens. It's the janitor, they've found him dead in his office.' Reeve heard the secretary swallow nervously, 'He was _very_ dead sir. He'd been stabbed several times, and then…decapitated.'

'Tell the squad I'll be right down.' He snapped, and put the phone down. He stood and headed for the door, his frown deepening. Who would want to kill a janitor?

* * *

'…searched down here when Mr Tilles didn't show up for a meeting this morning. We found him like this.' The Turk pushed open the door to a small barely lit office, and then hastily stepped away, averting his eyes.

Reeve blanched. He had seen many horrific things while working with Cloud and the others as Cait Sith, chief of which was probably when he'd seen a helpless young woman killed before his eyes, but this was probably a close second. Trying to ignore the gore and concentrate on not emptying his stomach of its breakfast, he frowned at the stab wounds on the body. Actually, comparing these wounds with Aeris's…

He spun around hurriedly and glanced at the nearest Turk, 'Get Cloud and the others down here _right now!_'He snapped.

A few minutes later, Cloud and the rest were gathered near the office, talking with Reeve and the Turks. Yuffie was standing in one corner retching, while Vincent stood steadying her and talking to her in lowered tones which the others couldn't hear.

'That's definitely the work of the Masamune. I'd recognise the shape of those wounds anywhere.' Cloud said, tight-lipped and white faced. 

Barret looked paler than normal, and kept shifting his gun-arm nervously, whilst Tifa had been leaning against a wall with her eyes closed, breathing deep, shuddering breaths, her fists clenched. Cid was stood next to Barret, his arms crossed and frowning while he muttered profanities under his breath. Red was calmly sitting up on his haunches. Reeve didn't think that he was being callous, he just couldn't read the face of a cat very well. He was pretty sure that the way Red's tail was glowing even fiercer than normal, and was being lashed around angrily behind him, was a sign that the big cat was pissed off.

His eyes came to rest on the white-blonde head of Aurora. Her face was almost chalk white, and her whole body was shaking slightly. She was swaying almost imperceptibly on the spot. Reeve immediately felt pity for the girl, and had an urge to go and put his arms around her shoulders to comfort her. She hadn't asked to be dragged from her quiet little island into a group of people who seemed to attract trouble like honey attracted bees. Her green eyes rose from their lowered state of staring at the floor, and met with his. He turned away quickly, and glanced at the others.

'How the hell did someone get hold of the *$"£@~&*% Masamune, Reeve?' Barret demanded.

Reeve shrugged, 'It was retrieved from the Crater after we defeated Sephiroth, and kept as a research piece.' He caught their accusatory stares, 'Well nobody but Sephiroth could use the damned thing remember?!'

'At least until now.' Tifa said quietly, not opening her eyes.

A Turk came up to Reeve and whispered something into his ear. The President seemed to sag visably, and he turned sadly to the others, 'Threre's no video footage of the crime.' He said, quietly, 'The Masamune was kept in the research labs near Hojo's old labs. There aren't any camera's in Hojo's lab-' He was cut off.

'Why aren't there any bloody camera's in there Reeve?' Cid snapped, at the President.

Reeve sighed, 'That's partly my fault. There were never any camera's in that area of the building when Hojo worked there because they were no good. The JENOVA specimen seems to interfere with the recording's, and so it was pointless to put cameras close to the place the thing was kept.' Reeve looked agonised for a moment, as if trying to decide whether to say something else or not. 'There's something else. There's a camera in the janitors office, but…the video tape is all scrambled.'

'So? What good is that to us?' Barret glaring at the dark haired President, his face still pale.

'Well, the only other thing that jams the cameras is someone with many JENOVA cells.' Reeve paused as the others all stared at him. 'Cloud and Vincent don't have enough cells to affect a video recording in that way.' He took a deep breath, 'In fact the only person ever to affect camera's in this way was -'

'Sephiroth…'Cloud said hoarsely.

* * *

Aurora ran back to her rooms at a run, trying to stop her heart from panicking. The person who had killed that guy had been in her _room._ Slamming through the door, she ran into the bathroom, and slid open the shower door ready to hand over the blade to Reeve, and tell him about what she had found.

__

'..They'll blame it on you …' A voice at the back of her mind said. It was almost like a normal thought, but it didn't seem quite right.

Aurora's heart clenched up in her chest. But surely Cloud and the others would know it wasn't her…_They hardly know you_, the small voice said, _do you think they will protect you when it is obvious they were so angry at this crime?_ But I didn't do it…_The weapon is in your room and you have no alibi. Blood on your dress…._

Aurora stepped back from the shower and backed into the main room. Making sure the door was locked she flopped down onto her bed, and cried herself to sleep

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Authors Note: I apologise for taking so long to post up the next chapter. My computer has been very ill over the last few months and it has nothing to do with AO-HelL… I mean AOL. I had to put the rating up coz of the gore and a bit of bad language. It might not be bad enough to warrant a higher rating, but it's better to be safe than banned from FF.net. Please R&R, and thanx for reading.LOL

PS. I have actually written up to about chapter 8, but I think I'll be really evil and see how many positive reviews I get before I post any more.


	6. The Flower Girl

****

Fountain Of Memories

Chapter 6: The Flower Girl

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Disclaimer: I don't own any of the FF7 chars, I'm not getting any money from this etc, etc...

Dylan Addison shone his torch down the empty corridor. The slightly shaking beam of light indicated that the state of his nerves was pretty bad, and also that there was nothing other than scientific equipment down the corridor. The security guard sighed with relief and leaned against the wall thankfully.

The whole evening had been like this. Since that janitor had got topped, he'd been assigned to keep watch on the labs in the ShinRa building. Personally Dylan would have been much happier somewhere as far away as possible from the place where a harmless old man was brutally murdered, but it was his job. Still he needed something to calm his nerves. Delving into a pocket he found his packet of smokes, and then hunted for his lighter.

The flare of light briefly illuminated the area around him in oranges and yellows, giving the corridor an eerie look. An yell from one of his fellow security guards made him drop the lighter in fright. It made clatter as it hit the floor, which seemed awfully loud to Dylan in the dead silence of the ShinRa building.

Booted footsteps echoed in the silence. Slowly, but steadily getting closer. Dylan backed off down the corridor in the hopes that whoever it was wouldn't see him in the darkness. Now he could see a green glow far down the next corridor, moving towards him. He was sure he could see a figure in the light.

The glow paused as it reached the door which separated this corridor from the next. There was a loud cracking noise and the glass in the door blew inwards, and the frame sagged and broke off its hinges. Dylan could definitely see a figure now, it was a figure he recognised quite well, even though he'd only ever been told about it in stories. Dressed all in black, with white hair which seemed to move slightly in a wind which only it could feel, and if that wasn't enough there was no mistaking the huge sword which the figure carried in it's right hand.

Dylan made a slight whimpering noise as the figure walked through the door, it's boots crunching on the broken glass. It didn't seem to hear him, and instead turned and raised it's left hand. The blank wall it was facing blew inwards, but instead of the loud explosion he expected to hear there was a strange cessation of noise, as if the force used to blow in the wall was sucking up any sound.

The figure strode through the hole and disappeared from view. After Dylan had calmed down, curiosity got the better of him. Sidling along the opposite edge of the darkened corridor, he peered into the hole which the figure had made.

There was no sign of the green glow, or of the figure himself. The room that the hole revealed was quite large, and Dylan could see various lab equipment strewn about. As quietly as he could he sidled across the corridor in a half stoop. Peering carefully into the room he could see no sign of the figure. He walked down in between the tall shelves which held things he couldn't make out in the dark. He rounded the corner and jumped in fright. The figure was standing over a paper strewn desk and was rummaging through the paperwork, it turned malicious green eyes on him and smiled cruelly.

Dylan tried to back away but tripped over some discarded object on the floor. Sephiroth strode calmly over to him, the Masamune raised. Dylan tried to skitter backwards, but it was no use. He raised his arm over his head in a futile effort to stop the blade which could cut a steel pipe in half, from disembowelling him. Suddenly a something new entered the room. The sound of a voice singing. Dylan was sure he could hear birdsong in the background, and that he could smell a beautiful fragrance.

The clang of metal hitting the floor made Dylan open his eyes in amazement. The Masamune was on the floor, and Sephiroth's face was contorted into a face of indecision. The face changed suddenly, and took on a feeling of peace, as the great warrior Sephiroth ran from the room. After a moment, the beautiful song followed and Dylan realised he was all alone.

* * *

And now it was the next morning. ShinRa workers, lab assistants, Turks and security team were all trying to do various jobs whilst tripping over one another and getting in each other's way. Reeve was nearby trying to keep order whilst also trying to listen to the Turks questioning the security guard who'd seen what happened. He waved frantically at Cloud and the others when they came into the corridor.

'What's happened Reeve? Another murder?' Cloud asked as he reached the president through the crowd of people.

Reeve shook his head, 'No murders this time thankfully, but Sephiroth turned up again, ' He indicated the security guard sitting on a chair nearby, 'This guy saw it all. Apparently Sephiroth came down this corridor last night, blew a hole into the wall over there, and then went into the room beyond.'

'Why didn't he just use the door like everyone else?' Said Tifa with a wry smile, 'Oh no wait, this is Sephiroth we're talking about, of course…'

Reeve smiled tiredly, 'There's no obvious door into this room that we've been able to find. This is Hojo's secret lab, the place where he came to do experiments which were nothing to do with ShinRa. We've been looking for this place ever since NeoShinRa took over, but until now we've not been able to find it.'

Cloud glanced over at the guard, 'And he saw all of this?'

'Well yes…' Reeve grabbed Cloud's arm as the blonde tried to make his way over to the guard, his face set in a grim expression, 'Wait Cloud, before you jump in and start asking questions you should hear the rest of the story.' He sighed, ' Mr Addison followed Sephiroth into the room. It appears Sephiroth was looking through some papers on Hojo's desk before he spotted Mr Addison.' Reeve frowned, 'It's the next bit that's weird.'

'He spotted the guard and he's still alive to tell the tale? ^%*$"*^& musta been one of his good days then.' Said Barret, 'Or p'raps ol' Sephiroth's mellowing with old age.'

'Mr Addison says that -' Reeve paused, 'Actually perhaps you should hear it for yourselves.' He motioned for them to follow him over to where the security guard was sat. 'Excuse me Mr Addison, could you please tell my friends here what happened last night.'

The security guard looked awed at being spoken to by the President but instead said, 'Ere you're that Cloud Strife aren't you?'

Cloud looked embarrassed and nodded. 'So what happened last night? You definitely saw Sephiroth?' He said hurriedly, in an effort to get the conversation away from awkward questions about his heroic efforts.

Dylan nodded, 'Yeah,' he paused, and frowned, 'Although there was something weird bout him I can't quite put my finger on.' He shrugged, 'Mind you it's not like I ever saw the guy in person while he was alive.'

Cloud nodded. Tifa came over and stood beside Cloud, leaning towards the security guard so she could hear him better. He looked at her and looked away quickly blushing slightly. Tifa rolled her eyes and stood up, readjusting the neckline of her top.

The security guard gasped suddenly and turned back to them, his former traces of slight embarrassment gone. ' I just remembered what was weird about Sephiroth….well he had…well…umm.' He waved his hands vaguely in the area of his chest, 'Y'know…he was a…a _girl_!' 

Cloud's eyes widened in surprise, and then disbelief. 'What the hell are you talking about? Have you been drink-' He was cut off by Tifa clutching at his arm.

'Cloud you moron, think about it. Which girl do we know who looks exactly like Sephiroth?' Tifa said wide-eyed, still gripping his arm. He looked gob-smacked, unable to speak. 

'Aurora…' Red said quietly, his tail swishing through the air behind him showing his tightly controlled anger.

Cloud's mouth snapped shut and he turned and tried to unsheathe his sword. Tifa grabbed his arm again. 'Wait a'minute Cloud, we havn't got a clue where she is or anything else, so before you run off and start hacking at things, lets wait and hear if Mr Addison has anything else to tell us ok?' She turned to the security guard, 'Do you have anything else to tell us?'

The man swallowed and nodded, 'Sephiroth…or…whoever, came over to me wiv that bloody big sword of his over his head, justa bout ready to cut me 'ed orf, when suddenly there's this weird music, like a girl singin', and this smell of flowers. Seph…I mean…this girl just dropped the sword and legged it out…'

Cloud looked thoughtful for a moment, 'Flowers…' Realisation dawned on his face suddenly, and he turned and sprinted from the room. The others looked puzzled and turned to Tifa who sighed sadly and plonked herself down. 'Flowers, and a girl singing? C'mon you guys, you know how much Aeris liked to sing…'

'But Aeris is de-' Began Barret, but Red cut him off and said, thoughtfully, 'What about the fountain in the garden?'

***

Aurora opened her eyes blearily. The overpowering smell of flowers pervaded her senses, and she stared up into a pair of bright, cold blue eyes.

'Cloud? Where am I? What are you doing…ouch!' Cloud just dropped her onto the ground, still staring at her with a strange look in his eyes. Aurora frowned, confused, and pulled herself to her knees. It was then that she realised what she was wearing. Black leather was the main component, and Aurora was confused. How did she get like this? Why was she in the garden? Why was Cloud looking at her with such… vehemence?

Slowly, Cloud reached back over his shoulder, and there was a long drawn out silken sound as the Buster Sword came out of it's sheathe. Aurora's eyes went wide, and she tried to crawl backwards as Cloud raised the sword up high. Time seemed to slow down as Cloud brought the sword down. Aurora's arms flew up over her head and her scream reverberated around the garden. A figure with long, streaming brown hair dived at Cloud, and sent him sprawling into the flowers. The Buster Sword fell from his fingers, and hit the ground point first, right in front of Aurora's nose. She briefly gaped at the sword, before her eyes rolled up into her head and she fell to the ground in faint.

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Authors Notes: Hope you enjoyed that ppl. The next chapter will be up shortly. It's got a different format to all the other chapters but it'll probably reveal quite a lot if you read it, and hopefully will mean the story makes more sense…at least that's the theory. Anyway, it's that time again! Lotsa nice reviews please, else I'll be forced to do something drastic….like….umm…I'll think of sumthin :-p LOL


	7. A Voice From The Past

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Fountain of Memories

Chapter 7: Voice From The Past

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Disclaimer: None of the Final Fantasy 7 chars belong to me, I'm just borrowing them from the lovely people at Squaresoft, and I'm not getting any money from this.

Report on The JENOVA Experiment

Concerning the experiment to create a supreme soldier using Specimen JENOVA, and a human host.

January 1957- Our proposed plan is going well so far, and Lucrecia's pregnancy is following as normal. We cannot yet detect if there has been any effect on the child from the JENOVA cells. I have taken care of the troublesome Turk, although Lucrecia did not feel it was a wise course of action. It seems that my 'wife' has a soft heart.

October 1957- Our experiment has been a failure. As far as we have been able to discern, the resulting child of the experiment has none of the abilities we predicted. I believe I know where we went wrong and wish to try the experiment again, unfortunately my associates are not so keen. It seems that Lucrecia has been somewhat affected by the JENOVA cells in her body. My associates seem to think that they could damage her more if the experiment was performed again. Personally if this is the only side effect of the experiment I do not see a problem with trying it again.

April 1959- Lucrecia has agreed to do the experiment again, and this time I am sure it will work. If the revised plans are correct we will have our super soldier for the war effort. I am getting some interesting results from introducing JENOVA cells into grown human hosts, rather than breeding a partially JENOVA human. That annoying Turk is reacting oddly to some of the things I have introduced into his body. Perhaps he will be of some use once I have finished with him.

January 1960- It was a great success! The newborn displays many of the traits that we have discovered in the JENOVA, and we believe his speed, stamina and strength will surpass that of all normal humans. He has been named Sephiroth by his mother, shortly before she disappeared from the holding cell she was placed in. It seems that Professor Gast and the rest were correct. Her body could not control the JENOVA cells and she had to be placed in containment to protect the rest of us. The JENOVA cells have given her similar traits to that of the newborn, and so she escaped easily with her new-found strength. I find this turn of events quite appealing. With Lucrecia and her soft heart gone, there will be no-one to object to my further experiments on the two boys as they grow older.

April 1966- I have found the last Cetra. I am currently subjecting her to tests under President Shinra's orders. He wishes to learn more about what the Cetran's call the 'Promised Land'. He believes that this 'land' is rich with Mako, and thus it interests him because he can practically smell the money. My interest in this Ancient is quite different. Her magic skills and long-life make her and interesting possibility for my goal of creating a perfect creature. Sephiroth shows promise, although he is but 6 years old. He is very attached to his older brother, and looks up to him. I may have to do something about that at a later date. I am planning to shove that Turk into the basement of the old mansion in Nibelheim. He has turned out to be slightly, uncontrollable and erratic. A few years in an induced sleep should keep him out of trouble.

July 1970- Damn that Professor Gast! He has run off with the Cetran woman, and has convinced my eldest son to leave Midgar with that woman he's always hanging around with. Well he's not the important one anyway, although I have noticed Sephiroth spending more time with some girl too. I may have to do something about that, although any child of his would have the potential to be just as great as him, if not better. An organic specimen as it were, still I may have to look into disposing of this girl.

February 1973- The Cetran woman has returned to my labs, and what's more she has a half-cetran daughter with her. It seems that Gast fell in love with my specimen and the child is the result. Not that it matters, Gast was killed when we went to fetch them from the Icicle Inn area. My earlier plan to get rid of Sephiroth's girl and choose him a more suitable mate, has been put to a halt. Our last attempt to get rid of the girl resulted in Sephiroth killing all three of the Turks who had been sent to kill her. Luckily he did not realise they were Turks, and has not traced the incident back to ShinRa or me. He is leaving for Wutai soon however, perhaps then I will get more of a chance, although I am still toying with the idea of waiting until after she bears a child.

June 1977- That damned Cetran escaped again. This time she took her daughter with her. We found her dead at a train station. It seemed that her body could not cope with the experiments I was subjecting her to. There was no sign of her offspring. Sephiroth and his woman are expecting a child. I insisted that they marry so that I will have a direct link to the child as it's grandfather, and that its damned mother can't run off and claim the baby for herself if she wished to. I have not heard of Linus since he left in 1970 although I believe he was living in Nibelheim for a time.

September 1987- The child does posses some of the talents we have associated with JENOVA. She has the same number of cells as her father, although she should have cells identical to him, we have noticed that they are slightly different from the actual cells we remove from the JENOVA specimen. Her mother will not let me near her very often however to test her. Even when Sephiroth is away our people cannot seem to get near her.

August 1990- Something has gone terribly wrong. Sephiroth discovered the presence of JENOVA on a mission in the town of Nibelheim. It seems that JENOVA is somehow controlling him and using his body for some unknown purpose. Had we realised that JENOVA was more aware, we could have utilised the being in other ways. Sephiroth discovered my lab in the old mansion, and after discovering the material there, he seemingly went mad. He burnt the town down to the ground. In the reactor we discovered two other men, and Sephiroth, who had been thrown, or had slipped, into the reactors core. He is comatose, but we believe he is aware. Due to the fact that ShinRa has no requirements for him anymore, he is to be placed in cryogenic sleep up at the Northern Glacier. Using actors has covered up the Nibelheim accident, although we did attempt to clone the dead inhabitants by using JENOVA. Sadly the clones were all mad, and gradually disappeared. The two men found in the reactor with Sephiroth were subjected to some experiments, some of which were successful, and some which were not. They both later escaped, although we believe that Specimen Z was killed by our men on the outskirts of Midgar. Specimen C was reported to be out of action.

Due to the 'death' of our prime specimen, Sephiroth, ShinRa have decided that experimentation with the being known as JENOVA is no longer required. The rediscovery of Ilfana's half Cetran daughter in the slums of Midgar has opened up new possibilities for the discovery of the Promised Land which is much more profitable for President Shinra.

Professor Hojo Keisatsu

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Authors Notes: Ok, I hope that might have cleared up a couple of things. Can you work out everything now? I thought Hojo was so evil, I love writing about evil people MWAHAHAHAHA…HAHA..HA…..ahem….LOL


	8. Echoes Of Madness

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Fountain of Memories

Chapter 8: Echoes of Madness

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Disclaimer: I do not own any of the FF7 characters, they are the property of Squaresoft and I am just borrowing them for this non-profit fan fic.

The steady beeping of the heart monitor was the only sound which echoed around the small medical room. Reeve had become used to the sound by now. He'd spent much of his time in the last week standing at the bedside of a girl he hardly knew.

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And why have you been doing that eh? Part of his mind asked, _You met her barely more than two weeks ago. She's a murderer and yet you're still attracted to her… what's wrong with you?_

He shook his head slightly with a frown, and realised that he didn't know why he felt the urge to protect this young, vulnerable woman. Whenever she looked at him with those large green, quavering eyes, he wanted to wrap his arms around her slender shoulders and tell her it would be ok. 

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Huh, not very vulnerable really is she? She's a vicious and vindictive killer, preying on the innocent. Betraying your hospitality and kindness.

Rubbing his head with a sigh, Reeve plopped himself down into the chair beside the bed where Aurora lay. She looked so innocent and beautiful lying there. Pale hair spread out over the pillow, pale face blank and almost serene, the pale green of the hospital bed linen seemed to soften her looks, making her appear somehow unreal. A lock of gold-white hair had fallen across her face, and Reeve reached out to move it. As his fingers brushed her face he suddenly realised what he was doing, and guiltily snatched his hand away just before there was a quiet knock at the door.

'Come in.' He said, wondering whom it was. Tifa poked her head around the door and smiled tightly at Reeve. She sat in the chair beside him and sighed.

'So, how is she?' She asked, her words taught and clipped short. Reeve knew that it cost Tifa a lot to come here and talk to him about Aurora. Despite being the one who had saved her life, Reeve got the feeling that she felt pretty much the same as Cloud and the rest of Avalanche did about the young woman.

'No change really.' Reeve replied carefully. He cleared his throat before asking, 'How are the others?'

Tifa looked away, and stared out of a nearby window, 'Pretty much as you would expect. Cloud's still not left his room and his having his food delivered to him. The last person who tried to forcefully remove 'persuade' him to leave is in another room of this infirmary having his broken arm put into plaster. Barret and Cid have been unusually abstracted and quiet. Red's been exactly the opposite. We can't get him to sit still for five minutes. Vincent and Yuffie…well they've been spending a lot of time together. Going for walks and talking quietly by themselves. I think Yuffie was pretty disturbed when she found out it was Aurora who killed the janitor. She kinda liked the girl I think.'

'Didn't you?'

'… yes I did. She saved our lives, and I trusted her without thought.' Tifa paused, and looked at her lap, 'Now I regret trusting her so readily, but I suppose there's no point in self blame.'

Reeve said nothing, and turned to look at the comatose girl. There was silence for awhile, until Tifa spoke again.

'Why do you come here every day Reeve?' He caught the edge in her voice. As if she was barely containing her outrage and anger that he would put Aurora over his friends.

Turning he looked the brunette directly in the eyes and replied; 'Why did you push Cloud out of the way when he was about to kill her?'

Tifa swallowed, and turned her head away from his steady, blue-grey gaze, and looked back at her lap. 'Because that would have been murder too, Reeve. She deserves to be tried and executed without taking Cloud with her.'

There was a brief silence before Reeve spoke again, 'Do you remember when they put you in the gas chamber Tifa?'

There was no reply. And Reeve looked over at her to see tears forming in her eyes, before she squeezed them shut.

Reeve sighed and decided to try reasoning, 'Tifa I know you must hate Aurora right now. I hate what she did to that old man but…… well I'm not basing the fate of the world on the fact that she killed that man without reason or remorse. Does the description of a cold blooded killer fit with the girl we knew back on that island? Do you think she would have even known one end of a sword from the other growing up on an island alone?' Reeve glanced back at Aurora. 'There's a lot more to this than meets the eye.'

When he turned back to Tifa he found her glaring at him. 'Yes you're right Reeve. There's a lot more to this than there first seems.' She thrust a cardboard file towards him, and stood up. 'This was retrieved from Hojo's secret lab. It's his own personal diary… well more a record of important dates really.'

Reeve opened the file and taking the sheets of paper from it, began to read. His eyes widening slightly as he read some of the entries.

Tifa was watching him when he finished reading.

'There's a lot of stuff in there which we'd already found out, but there's a hell of a lot which not even ShinRa knew, or cared to record.' She said, and then glanced over contemptuously at the young woman on the bed. 'There's an older brother who never seemed to surface. A wife we never knew about, but then, lets face it, we didn't know much about Sephiroth's private life before he came to Nibelheim. And then it turns out he had a kid too. A child with the same powers as him, and what's the betting we _do _know who she is.' Turning Tifa strode to the door and wrenched it open, but slowly turned back to Reeve who was sat with his head bowed, and face pale. 'I don't think she needs a reason to do this stuff Reeve. She's Sephiroth's offspring, and that's the end of it.' 

The slam of the door echoed around the room, and Reeve winced. Sighing again, he rose from his seat and walked towards the door. Turning the main light off he left the room.

* * *

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Come to me Aurora, I have something to give you.

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What…Who are you?

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I am you. I am a part of you which cannot be denied or controlled. I am you're dark side.

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These thoughts don't sound like mine

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We are not entirely the same entity, but you're being encompasses part of me. I am you're will power, you're determination, you're strength and speed, your agility and dexterity. I am everything about you which is strength, and I am in control.

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Why do you make me strong? What do you want from me?

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I was with you're father too, little one. He drew his great strength from me. He became my son, my warrior, my dark angel, but alas he was not strong enough to finish what he started. He was too attached to… certain worldly things which prevented his ascension to divnity.

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My father… you were part of my father too…

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Yes, Aurora. Now I want you to continue his work because I am reduced into the weakened state I was before he discovered me. I can only come to you as thoughts and actions, you must come to me, restore my full strength and receive the gift I have for you. 

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Why should I come to you? I don't know who you are or what your name is. I don't know what you have planned for me.

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Only what I planned to give your father. Divine power and immortal life, becoming part of the planet and utilising it's power to become stronger still. Harnessing the power of the planet will give us enough strength to gain power from more planets still, until we are strong enough to work against the forces which work the universe as it is now.

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You want to use my planet for your own gains and you expect me to help you? Betray my friends, and the millions of people who live here. Cloud and the others would never forgive me…

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You think they will forgive you for what you have done so far?

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What are you talking about? I have done nothing… 

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Images flashed on the inside of her eyelids. She was walking through the corridors of Midgar. A man was standing in front of her, and she looked him in the eyes as she saw the vicious sword in her hand stab and slash. She felt the glee and elation in her heart at the feel of the kill. 

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No… 

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A man was trying to crawl away from her, whimpering, his eyes pleading for mercy. She raised the Masamune.

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NO! 

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She saw Cloud raise his sword over her, and saw the crazy look in his eyes. The feelings of fear and anger, in his icy blue eyes. She saw Tifa speaking to Reeve, and saw herself lying on a hospital bed. Tifa was talking… 'She deserves to be tried and executed…'. The words echoed over and over again.

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NO!NO!NO!… It's not true… I didn't do any of that stuff…

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But you did Aurora, you see how strong you can be when I lend you my power.

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I don't want your power! I don't want to come to you, I don't want anything to do with you!

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You're father said the same thing at first, but it made no difference. It's part of you to be this way. Do you think you can defy your fate? Besides… do you think you can stay here with your friends…Tifa's steely words echoed around her skull once more.

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………………………

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Come to me Aurora and receive what is rightfully yours…

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…… Very well, I will come to you. Where must I go?

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Let me in and I will guide you safely there myself.

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…I don't have any choice do I, entity…

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There are always choices. Maybe I will discuss them with you on our journey…

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One last thing… what are you known as, entity?

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I have had many names… but you may call me… Jenova…

Author's Notes: Well thare's another chapter for you're reading pleasure (I hope ^_^). If you read and review I will post up the next chapter nice and soon so you don't go insane and hunt me down or anything. Thanx for reading and please read and review because I like to know that ppl care ^_^ LOL

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	9. Escape

**Fountain of Memories**

**Chapter 9: Escape**

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_Disclaimer: I do not own any of the FF7 characters, they are the property of Squaresoft and I'm not making any money from this._

Shadows crept down the dull corridor as the sun lowered behind the horizon, and the stars came out. The guard yawned tiredly, and peered at his watch for the fifteenth time, wondering where his replacement was. He walked down the corridor a short way, looking around the corner to see if he could see the relief guard. 

The door behind made no noise when it opened just enough to allow a figure to emerge just as silently. With amazing speed, the figure was suddenly behind the guard with and arm around his neck and hand over mouth, there was the distinct crack of bone. The body slumped to the floor as Aurora walked silently on towards the armoury.

* * *

The delicately sweet smell of _Mattholia_ Aerisia _spread across the grounds of the ShinRa building as Cloud wandered through them aimlessly. Eventually he came to the place where the scent was at its strongest, and where the sound of gently trickling water could be heard. The memorial garden was artfully lit for night-time viewing. Cloud ignored the benches and went and stood in front of the fountain._

He inhaled the night air deeply, trying to stay on top of his emotions. Cloud knew he'd never been very good at coping with his problems or expressing how he felt. The only way he knew how to deal with things was to push them as far away as possible, to become cold and unaffected, or to run away. There was only one person he'd ever been able to talk to, and all that was left of her was memories and carved marble, and when _she _was the reason he was struggling, he had reacted by getting as far away from reminders of her as possible. Away from the friends they had both had, away from the places they'd been, away from the promises he'd never been able to keep. He'd climbed out of a window to get out here, rather than face people by walking through the building.

The lights of the garden lit the fountain to form small rainbows in the spray of water. The marble figure was softened in the light, seeming less like a block of stone, and more like a real person. Cloud had refused to spend more time than necessary in this garden. The kneeling figure brought back memories of the last time he had seen her alive, kneeling by the water, just as the statue did.

He could see her face just at the moment she looked up at him and he saw her sad eyes.

**She knew what was going to happen. She knew Sephiroth was just above her…**

And as the sword went through her body, she looked back up at him again and gave him a faint almost reassuring smile, before slowly falling forwards. The image of her death had stayed with him to this night, clear as the day it had happened, and through all of his worst times, her reassuring smile for him whilst _she _died, had kept him going. 

Crouching down carefully, he plucked one of the flowers gently from the ground and examined briefly. He remembered that the flowers were often the same shade of pink as her dress. Keeping his face impassive, he opened his belt pouch and carefully put the flower inside. With one last glance he turned and began to walk away.

The world suddenly seemed to crystallise around him, as sounds sights and smells suddenly became acute. The sounds of many voices seemed to briefly echo through his head, and the world began to move in slow motion. The voices were screaming in pain, shouting for help , crying out in shock and surprise. The smells of blood, steel, fire and leather filled his nostrils as he turned drawing his sword in one swift movement. 

_The figure clad in black leather stood above Aeris, sword raised. Cloud could hear the shouts of his companions, and could hear the pounding of his heart as he ran towards her, knowing he couldn't reach her in time. Suddenly he realised he was close enough…_

Cloud dived towards the leather clad figure, sending it flying backwards away from the statue. He landed, sprawling on the grass, but flipped to his feet as the black clad figure charged towards him, black cape flaring, white hair streaming. Cloud got his sword up just in time to prevent the Masamune from cleaving him in half. Leaping back Cloud managed to get a good look at his opponent. 

Aurora smiled evilly at him, her green eyes glinting with a slight madness and zeal. She whipped the sword around and thrust it into the ground point first, resting her hands on the hilt. Almost immediately a pale green light began to grow around her, causing her clothes and hair to flap in an unreal wind. Cloud dodged and dived as she threw a barrage of flame at him. As he got close to her he swung his blade around in an arc, which Aurora dodged at the last minute bringing up the Masamune to guard herself. Cloud changed the direction of the swing and brought it down towards her head in a chopping motion, as she leapt away, the sword managed to lop off a lock of white hair which drifted gently to the ground. Seemingly mesmerised and unable to move, Cloud saw Aurora watch her hair fall to the ground, eyes incredulous. As she raised her eyes to his, the venom in her gaze forced him back a step, giving her all the time she needed to leap towards him and plant her right foot in his chest. Cloud felt the air whoosh from his lungs as he fell flat on his back.

The triumph in Aurora's eyes was unbearable as she lifted her sword above her head. The Masamune left a silver arc in the air as it fell towards him at speeds unreachable by someone who did not possess Jenova cells. The Masamune suddenly stopped it's descent a few inches away from his face. Just enough room to allow another sword to snake in and block it.

Cloud saw Aurora's face snap up and glare at the person standing over his head.

'You cannot stop me,' Aurora said, but her voice was alien sounding, with strange echoes. 'You couldn't do it before, and now I am stronger than ever.'

'Maybe I could not stop you before, Jenova,' said a male voice which Cloud almost seemed to recognise. 'And maybe I will never have the honour of destroying you, but I will not let you kill the one who could.'

Aurora half-snarled, half-hissed at the man standing over him whilst bringing the Masamune around in an upwards sweep which was easily blocked by the stranger, before she back-flipped away to stand, sword point in the ground, green glow flowing around her, she disappeared in a flash of green-white light. 

Cloud got to his feet as quickly as his aching body would allow, and turned to face his saviour. 

The man was wearing a dark brown trench-coat over dark clothing. His sword was as long as Cloud's own, the blade was straight and only a few inches across. Heavy enough to cleave through bone, but light enough to wield with speed and agility. Cloud's eyes only briefly passed over the weapon and came to rest on the man's face. His blonde hair was pulled back and tied away from his slightly angular face except few the few spiky strands that were hanging over one side of his face. His eyes were the exact same shade of blue as Cloud's own.

'You were the guy on the balcony on the night of the ball weren't you?' Cloud accused, suddenly realising where he'd heard that voice before. 'You said you had something to tell me…'

'There's no time to talk right now.' The man replied calmly, 'I must go after her, try and stop her from getting to the North Crater.'

'The North Crater? Why is Aurora travelling back there?' Cloud demanded, moving closer to the mysterious man. 'All the tunnels and caves were blocked up when we made our 'amazing escape' after the fight with Sephiroth.' 

'Aurora isn't the one who's trying to get back there, Cloud.' The man sighed. 'Jenova has taken her over, just like she was controlling Sephiroth. He was not strong enough to withhold her, and you witnessed the results firsthand.'

'And what do you have to do with all this then?' Cloud edged closer to the man, who seemed not to notice. 

'I once had a link with Sephiroth before he became a monster, but that is irrelevant. I must follow where Jenova leads and prevent her from doing what she plans for as long as I can.' Came the curt reply. 'You and you're companions must follow as quickly as possible. If you can catch up with me in the North then I will explain more to you.'

' How do I know I can trust you? I don't know who you are, I don't even know what your name is! Why should I do as you say?'

The older man looked him directly in the eye sternly and replied, 'Because if you don't, it will be too late to do anything, and you know as well as I do that the effects of being too late, can affect your whole life.'

_His boots pounded across the marble as he ran towards her. He saw the sword slide through her slight body. Too late, just a moment too late. He heard someone scream her name. It was a moment before he realised it had been him._

Cloud fell to his knees clutching at his head, fighting the grief which threatened to burst from him uncontrollably. He heard the man's voice one more time before he vanished in a flash of light much as Aurora had.

'My name is Linus. See you in the North, Strife.'

_Author's Notes: Ooh flashbacks galore, although I'm not sure if that chapter made much sense coz I'm totally spaced due to an evil ultra-important-life-or-death History exam earlier today, and waaay too much Diet Coke. Well I'm not sure that chapter revealed much more, but it was a good way of telling the characters where to go next ^_^ Nice reviews and Chapter 10 will be up in a jiffy. LOL :-D_


	10. A Fire Which Burns Inside

**Fountain of Memories**

**Chapter 10: A Fire Which Burns Inside**

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_Disclaimer: I still don't own any of the characters from FF7, despite coming up with many devious plans to take over the world, and more importantly Squaresoft (who actually do own the chars), they always seem to be one step ahead….Oh, and I'm still not making any money from this._

Heat buffeted him backwards as the flames licked around his boots, but still he forced himself onwards. The houses around the main square were all ablaze; roaring tongues of fire crawled up the walls, and around the windows. Glass shattered, and bricks and tiles cracked and split with loud bangs.

He'd already known he would be too late. He had known from the moment she had called out to him that there was no way that even he could get there in time, but still he had desperately hoped that maybe, just maybe…

A figure clothed all in black stood in the centre of the flames, green energy pouring from outstretched hands and becoming white edged flame as it touched the ground and spread around, tendrils of hungry fire racing towards anything that was near.

He took a deep breath and ignored the fiery air as it scorched his throat.

'Seph! What are you doing?!' He screamed over the growling fire.

The green energy stopped suddenly, and Sephiroth clenched his fists, but did not turn.

'Ah… Linus.' Came his voice, sibilant and warped as if not his own. 'So, you think you can stop me brother dearest? You know you are not as strong as me, that you were always the _failure_. Why don't you just kneel down and make it easy for me to remove your head in one go.'

Sephiroth turned, smirking nastily. His green eyes glowed with an unearthly light, as they bored into Linus' face.

'You are not my brother.' He said in a hoarse whisper, staring back into those green eyes. 

Sephiroth laughed mirthlessly, 'Oh but I am. You know that I have Jenova cells in my body? They give me powers and strength beyond your imagining. She has shown me how to be great. And do you know what else she has shown me?'

'Who is this 'she' you talk about? Why would you put power over what you believe in Seph?' Linus said, almost pleading. 'You always hated your strength, why do you persist in this? Stop it now! I know you can, and… and I don't want to have to hurt you little brother.'

'Well, _big_ brother. She has shown me how I can control things. Things which are tied to her.' He grinned suddenly, but his eyes still bore the dark malice which struck fear into Linus' heart. 'Did you know that Jenova cells grow throughout your body brother?' He raised his right hand, and clenched it into a fist suddenly, and Linus screamed as every part of his body seemed to clench up and try to compress itself. Pain streaked through his bones and muscles as they began to spasm and he was sure he could hear bones cracking. Collapsing to the floor, he felt the heat of the flames come dangerously close suddenly, as the strength he was using to keep them away evaporated as the pain forced its way around his body.

'You can not stop me from killing you, Linus.' Sephiroth sneered over him, 'You could not stop me from destroying this town, you could not stop me from becoming strong, and you could not stop me from slaughtering your beloved Charlotte…'

Despite the paralysis which had overcome him, Linus felt his body surge towards Sephiroth in anger before the crippling agony overcame him once more.

Charlotte. Precious and lovely Charlotte, whom he had not seen for 16 years, and yet she had always been one of the two people he cared for most in this world. The other was standing over him now, smirking.

Sephiroth's head suddenly jerked up, and his smile seemed to become even more malevolent.

'Guess who you won't be able to stop me from killing now, Linus? Can you think who may be slowly waking up from a deep sleep in that mansion right now? Oh what a happy little reunion this is going to be. They'll be able to bury what's left of the three of you in the same grave. Won't that be nice?'

Linus felt the rage build up inside him. A dull, but fearsome strength inside him which was pushing and fighting against the pain. He could see now that the man who stood above him was not his brother. Whatever was controlling him, seemed desperate to kill all those who might be able to oppose it. All those with Jenova cells. Which meant that whatever was controlling him thought that the young boy in the ShinRa Mansion, had a chance of beating him. Maybe there was a way to even the odds. A way to release Sephiroth from the control of this thing he called 'She'.

Gripping himself and trying to ignore the agonising pain, he concentrated on the anger and the determination. 'No… You cannot have him. I may not be the _successful experiment Sephiroth, but at least I am not so easily overcome by the thing which you rely on so heavily.'_

'Ah, but you are not worthy of such powers, Linus. You are worthy of being punished by them. Do you think you will enjoy watching me tear him limb from limb whilst you lie there like a small child, crippled and useless?' Sephiroth retorted, cruel smile never leaving his face.

That was it. The final surge of feral power which came from the deepest depths of the human soul. The small part inside every human which is not civilised, the part that wants to scream and beat it's chest. The part which refuses to lay down and die, the sheer stubbornness which just will not give up. 

His body was suddenly released as the feeling of red hot pokers being hammered through every part of his body at once, was over-powered by the raw, hot energy which flowed life back into his limbs. He leapt towards Sephiroth with a speed even his brother could not match, and pressed his hands to the sides of his head.

This was a skill that Sephiroth had never possessed. Far too subtle and pointless, that Hojo would never think it worthwhile to bestow on his prime specimen, even if he had known about it. And yet Linus had learnt how to channel his thoughts to another person. He couldn't read their thoughts in any detail, but he could pick up emotions, but the thing that had kept him sane in his years away from Charlotte, had been his ability to talk to any person through their mind. How Charlotte had managed to get into his mind in the brief seconds she called for him he would never know. Perhaps once the link was made it was usable by either party.

Before Sephiroth had time to react, Linus was thrusting all the images he could remember from their past. Images of two boys playing together in a small boring room as rain cascaded down the window behind. 

The older, blonde boy comforting the younger brother, as he cried in the corner. 

And then as they were older, the blonde holding his brother's head as he retched over a bucket, shaking as tears ran down his cheeks for the first man he had ever killed. 

The image of a fast flowing river with emerald coloured trees hanging over it, and plush grassy banks where two young women sat and watched the two men as they tried to reclaim a football from the tree it had become stuck in. Peals of laughter from the two girls as first one fell into the water with a splash and then the other, and then shrieks as they were splashed with water in turn.

A birthday cake dominated the picture, with one solitary candle in the middle. One of the women from the river scene was holding a small toddler up to the table so she could blow out the candle. A man with long white hair was leaning on the other side of the little girl, enthusiastically showing her how to blow air out of her mouth. His puffed up cheeks made him look comical and the little girl was laughing, one chubby hand resting on her mother's supportive arm, and one reaching up towards her father.

He felt his brother's mind rebel and the darkness overshadowing it was forced away. Sephiroth collapsed to his knees, Masamune falling to the ground amidst the still burning flames.

'Linus… Jenova is….What have I done?' Came a strained whisper, as if every effort was being put into the words. 'Jenova has…me. Cannot…fight her…anymore. Namaya…Aurora…'

'Seph listen to me, you've got to try and fight it. Think of Namaya and Aurora, think of the world they will live in if Jenova wins.' Linus pleaded holding up his brother's face o he could look into his eyes. No longer glowing darkly, they were filled with pain and guilt. 'Don't let her win Seph! Keep the memories close to you, don't let Jenova get full control.'

'So… weak. You always stronger…looked up to you. Always stronger…Jenova overpowering…wants power to rule……everything.' A look of sudden desperation and fear crossed Sephoroth's face and suddenly he gripped Linus' arm. 'She's fighting me, brother. She will always be there, she's a part of me……brings out the dark. There's only one way… lose her, wipe her from the planet. Linus, I'll try and fight. If someone…can kill me then she'll be gone. If I can get control for just a moment…maybe enough for a lucky strike…Cloud is coming……I'll be ready.'

'No…Seph….' Linus whispered.

Sephiroth's face suddenly contorted with pain. 'There's no other way, Linus! Let me do my duty, and do yours by getting away from here……I said _get away…she…she's…' He suddenly screamed and clutched his head. Linus staggered backwards through the flames, and turned to flee. He had done all he could, now it was down to the boy who he could see had just run bewildered out of the mansion, and was staring open mouthed at the flames which ate up his hometown._

'LINUS!' Came a hoarse shout from behind him. 'Look after Namaya and Aurora when I'm go…..' Another scream punctuated the air as, part of the inn collapsed in on itself with a tremendous crash. 

Linus ran without looking back. The night air of the plains outside Nibelheim were blissfully cool. Finally his body collapsed in a damp cave several miles from the glow of the town. He realised that his skin was burnt and blistered, and his body ached like it had been pounded into the ground repeatedly. 

Back at Nibelheim Sephiroth straightened and stared malevolently into the eyes of the man who would one day kill him, before turning and walking through the flames towards Mount Nibel. Later, he plunged into the reactor's core, and the part of his mind that was still his, rejoiced as the liquid Mako closed over him…

***

Cloud sat up so fast in his bed that he heard his muscles crack in protest. His sweat-soaked sheets tangled around his legs as he tried to get up. Taking deep breaths, Cloud got the panic under control.  Attempting to get out of his bed - his sheets still caught around him - he fell to the floor. Disentangling himself from the damp sheet finally, he threw it viciously at the bed. 

Staggering into his small bathroom, he lent over the sink and splashed cold water on his face. Looking up he scowled at his reflection in the mirror. He hadn't had a nightmare for some time now. He rarely had dreams of any kind.

Of course he'd once had nightmares about the burning of his town, but not from the point of view he had just seen them from. Sephiroth had called him 'Linus'. The name of the man who had saved him earlier that evening from Aurora. And it seemed Jenova… had taken Sephiroth over. Did that mean that they had been wrong to go after Sephiroth? That he was just a… a pawn of Jenova's?

Cloud clenched his fist. NO! Sephiroth was evil. He'd killed Aeris in front of Cloud's own eyes. How could he even consider that Sephiroth hadn't deserved to die? 

No… Sephiroth was evil, and if Cloud had only found his way through the Ancient City faster, he and Aeris could have saved the world together… and it would have left him some reason to live in the world he had saved. Cloud growled angrily, and punched the mirror. It shattered loudly. Shards of silver flew across the room, shimmering in the dim light, tinkling as they hit the floor. Cloud looked at his hand and grimaced. It was bleeding profusely. He'd better get it seen to. Grabbing his trousers he pulled them on with one hand, and left the room, all thoughts about the strange nightmare forgotten.

Authors notes: Hope you enjoyed that ppl! Write some nice reviews for me if you did! Thank yoooou!


	11. A Rude Awakening

**Fountain of Memories**

**Chapter 11: A Rude Awakening**

Tifa rolled over in her bed and switched on the lamp, staring blearily at the door on which someone was banging loudly.

'Who is it?' She called, pulling on her dressing gown.

'It's me.' Came Cloud's voice in reply, 'I've err… kinda hurt myself, but the infirmary's not open and I wondered if you had brought any materia with you.'

Tifa yanked open the door and raised an eyebrow. Glancing down she saw his hand dripping blood on the floor and her eyes widened. 'Oh for Ramuh's sake. What the hell did you do?' She dragged him into the room. 'Sit down on the bed. I've just got to find it…'

Cloud obediently sat down, holding his hand so he wouldn't bleed on her bedding.  Tifa turned around wearing a bracelet heavily laden with materia. Kneeling in front of him she closed her eyes and a greenish glow surrounded her briefly. The deep cuts on Cloud's hand closed over leaving purple scars. 

Tifa opened her eyes. 'How does that feel now?' She asked, removing the bracelet.

Cloud shrugged, 'Numb, but I reckon it'll hurt like hell tomorrow.'

'Well be careful with it. I used Cure3 but you know that it still only numbs the wound and performs enough healing to stop you from bleeding.' She said, replacing the bracelet in the drawer she had found it on. ' There's still nothing better than the body's natural healing, so don't be too rough with it and get it seen to at the infirmary tomorrow morning.'

'Yes Nurse Tifa.' Cloud said, sarcastically. 'I do know all this. "Materia's only good as a short-term cure". I remember every excruciating moment of the bone reset they did on my shoulder after we came back from the North Crater. All because Cure3 had knitted the wrong bones together.'

Tifa smiled wryly. 'Alright, if you're so clever how the hell did you do that to your hand?'

Cloud looked slightly abashed. 'I punched the mirror in my bathroom. I think Reeve might be a bit pissed when he's sees the hole I've left in the wall.' Cloud sighed and rubbed his face tiredly. 'I had this really… messed up dream. It was about the night Nibelheim was destroyed… but not quite how I remember it.'

'I have nightmare's about that night all the time.' Tifa said quietly. 'So vivid. I can feel the heat on my face as I was standing on Mount Nibel. Can hear dad's last cry echoing around the reactor…'

'It was just like that only… it wasn't my memories. It was someone else's, or seemed to be.'

Tifa looked at him sympathetically. 'It's just your mind warping it and adding bits which never happened. Making it seem worse. That still doesn't explain why you punched a mirror.'

Cloud shook his head, his limp spikes of hair flying out around his head. 'That's just it. I don't think I would ever imagine Sephiroth as I saw him in the dream. He seemed to be just another pawn of Jenova's… not evil at all. He was being controlled all along.' Cloud closed his eyes. 'You remember the guy from the balcony on the evening we went to that ball?'

Tifa nodded silently.

'I met him in the garden earlier this evening. He stopped Aurora from killing me. Told me his name was Linus and said he would try and prevent her from reaching the Northern Crater but we would have to follow him.' Cloud looked Tifa directly in the eyes. 'In my dream, it seemed I was seeing it from his point of view. He's Sephiroth's brother I think. There were some other things that I'm sure were important but… I can't quite remember.' Cloud frowned.

Tifa looked at him concerned. 'You're serious aren't you Cloud?'

'You don't believe me?'

'No… actually I do. That makes sense… ' Tifa looked thoughtful. ' You're right he _is Sephiroth's brother, I read it in the report we found in Hojo's lab… there was other stuff in there too.' She said vaguely, frowning._

' Well I suspect that Linus sent the dream to me. He seems to have more mind powers than Sephiroth did.' Cloud shook his head again. 'I just don't understand why he would bother. Does he want me to feel remorse? Because I fucking well don't! Sephiroth was insane. He killed Aeris. He deserved to die.' Cloud said fiercely.

'It sounds almost like you're trying to convince yourself, Cloud.' Tifa said smiling slightly. He opened his mouth as if to retort, but Tifa continued. ' But don't work yourself up about it. We did what we had to do.' She sighed. 'You should get some sleep Cloud. If we're going to be heading for the Northern Crater you should probably tell the others tomorrow morning.'

Cloud nodded, 'Thanks Teef. I guess I'll see you in the morning.' He quietly shut the door behind him leaving Tifa alone to her suddenly complicating thoughts.

*  *  *

A loud knocking on her door jerked Yuffie awake, she quickly sat up in her bed, instantly alert.

'Hey Yuffie, are you awake?' Came Tifa's voice.

Yuffie blinked, 'Umm…yeah I'm awake.'

'I need to talk to you. Is this door open?'

'DON'T COME IN!' Yuffie yelled, and the lump in the bed next to her grunted, sat up, and a dishevelled looking Vincent blinked blearily.

'Don't over-react so much Yuffie. Look it's urgent and besides we're both girls, it's not like I haven't seen it all before.' Came the response, along with the sound of someone scrabbling at the door.

'Quick! Into the closet.' Yuffie hissed, shoving Vincent out of the bed, and trying not to laugh as he tripped over his boots and fell into the closet with a loud crash. Jumping out of bed she ran over, grabbed her shower robe and shut the closet door just as Tifa walked in with a hand over her eyes.

'See? I'll do this if it makes you feel any better.' She said, smiling. 'What the hell was that noise, Yuffie?'

Pulling on the robe quickly, Yuffie subtly tried to nudge Vincent's clothes behind the bed with her foot.

'Oh…I…uh, just threw a pair of shoes in my closet a bit too hard that's all.' She winced at her obvious fib. Her lying skills were obviously getting rusty. 'You can take your hand off you're eyes now. I'm decent'

Removing her hand, Tifa's eyes glanced around the room slightly suspiciously. Yuffie was usually surprisingly tidy, but today her clothes were strewn everywhere. Yuffie hastily picked up all the clothes on the floor, and shoved the bundle down the laundry chute. It was a moment before she realised that she'd put Vincent's down there too.

'So…' Yuffie began, desperately. 'What was it you wanted to speak to me about?'

Tifa sat down on the bed and rolled her eyes at Yuffie, 'Well there's two things really. Firstly, Cloud wants a meeting with us all in about an hour. He actually wanted to have it about an hour ago, but I persuaded him that it could wait until _after breakfast.'_

'How did you do that Teef? Cloud's usually so single-minded about something once he's decided about it.' Yuffie said, more in an effort to keep her friend's mind on something other than inspecting her room, particularly the closet.

Tifa grinned, 'I reminded him of what a complete grouch Barrett is if he doesn't get his Cheerio's and black coffee in the morning. That changed his mind instantly.'

'So what's the second thing then?'

'Oh, nothing really. It's just that Vincent's not answering his door, and I was wondering if you'd seen him?'

'No. Definitely not.' Yuffie said quickly. A little too quickly, she realised when she saw Tifa's face. 'Last time I saw him was last night, before we all went off to our rooms. I haven't got a clue where he is.' She strove to keep her face impassive, and refused to let her eyes stray to the closet door.

Tifa looked suspiciously at her for a moment before shrugging and standing up. 'Ok, no problem, I'm just checking with everyone that's all. If you see him, tell him about the meeting.'

Yuffie stood up and walked with her to the door, breathing a sigh of relief. Tifa reached out her hand to open the door and then stopped suddenly, and Yuffie could see the frown on her face. She suddenly realised that Vincent's red cloak was hung up on the back of the door.

With the healthy speed of terror, Yuffie opened the door with one hand and propelled Tifa out with the other. 'Well it was nice seeing you anyway Teef, but I gotta get ready for this meeting so I'll see you later, don't wait for me. Bye!' She slammed the door in her friend's confused face. Leaning back against the door, Yuffie took a deep shuddering breath. She heard the closet door open gently, and bare feet padded towards her.

'That was a close one.' Vincent said wryly, putting his arm around her shuddering form.

'Heh, understatement of the year! If she didn't know that you were here then I'm President ShinRa.' Yuffie said hoarsely.

Vincent chuckled, and the sound immediately made Yuffie feel better. He so rarely laughed that it brought a smile to _her face to know that, recently, she had been the cause of his smiles and laughter._

She giggled suddenly as the memory of Tifa's incredulous face as she shut the door on her came back to her.

'That's better,' Vincent said, ruffling her hair with his good hand. 'It's not so bad if she knows anyway. Tifa's pretty discreet.'

'Yeah, but _we'll_have to put up with her knowing glances, and insinuating remarks.' A thought suddenly occurred to Yuffie, and she smiled wickedly up at Vincent. 'Hey Vinnie, we have a more pressing problem you know. Or should I say _you _do.'

'Oh yes, what's that then?' He said, raising a quizzical eyebrow.

'How are we going to smuggle you out of my room and back into yours? I accidentally threw your clothes into the laundry chute.' She pretended to be thoughtful for a moment. 'Of course there's always you're lovely red cloak, but…oh dear… it's a rather distinctive colour don't you think?'

Vincent's face was so nonplussed that Yuffie couldn't stop herself from laughing.

'Well, thank you for you're sympathy.' He said, putting on a hurt expression. 'It's nice to know you care so much.' He sniffed theatrically, and looked highly affronted.

Yuffie collapsed to the floor in fits of giggles. Partly, with the relief that came after the ordeal with Tifa, and partly because it still surprised her when Vincent acted this way.

'Oh sorry Vinnie,' She said, standing finally, tears streaming down her face 'It was just your face…' She began to giggle again. Chuckling at her, Vincent put his arm around her slim shoulders again and brought her towards him, so their faces were a few inches apart.

'I don't mind, so long as you're happy.' He said, smiling gently at her.

She grinned back at him, and he saw the traces of mirth disappear from her face to be replaced by something much more serious. Her eyes were filled with happiness, but not from amusement. She moved her face forward suddenly and kissed him deeply. Finally releasing each other, Yuffie sighed ruefully. 'I suppose we'd better start getting ready for this meeting.' 

'We've got plenty of time before then.' Said Vincent, glancing at the clock.

Yuffie merely smiled at him daringly and raised an eyebrow.

* * *

Cloud paced the room agitatedly, glancing at the clock impatiently.

'Fo' gawd's sake Cloud. Jus' sit down.' Rumbled Barrett from the corner, of the room. 'Ya makin' me tired jus' watchin you wear a hole in the carpet.'

'They'll be along as quickly as they can Cloud.' Said Red from where he was sitting.

Right on cue, Tifa opened the door and entered.

'Did you get the others?' Demanded Cloud.

Tifa rolled her eyes, 'Calm down Cloud. Of course I went and got them.' She retorted, sitting herself down on a chair. 'I wasn't exactly going to lead them here by the hand now, was I?'

'Did you find Vincent?' Red enquired.

Tifa smiled oddly. 'Oh yes. I found Vincent all right. He might be a bit late.' She looked thoughtful for a moment. 'Yuffie might be too.'

The others looked at her strangely knowing smile, mystified.

The door opened again, and in came Yuffie and Cid. Yuffie looked like she'd pulled her clothes on in a hurry, and had run from her room. She seemed to be avoiding Tifa's gaze, and sat down without comment.

'Is this gonna take very long Cloud?' Cid asked, sitting on one of the chairs and placing his feet on the table.

Cloud just ignored him, and continued to pace backwards and forwards with his arms crossed over his chest.

The next to arrive was Vincent, who also seemed to have arrived at a run. Tifa gave him a bright smile. 'Yuffie gave you the message then, Vincent?'

Without so much flickering an eyelash, Vincent merely replied with: 'Yes, thank you,' and then seated himself down. Red noticed that Yuffie's cheeks were burning a dull red however, until she turned away and looked out of a window.

The last to arrive was Reeve, who seemed rather flustered.

'Sorry I'm late. Had a complaint from a member of staff which I had to deal with.' He apologised before sitting himself down.

'Must have been important to make you late, Reeve.' Said Cloud, sarcastically.

Reeve shrugged, 'An elderly cleaning lady ran into my office in hysterics because she'd just seen a naked man running through the garden's. I didn't think it was anything too serious, just pranksters I expect, but I had to put security on alert just in case.'

'An elderly lady, eh?' Said Cid, sniggering. 'Just wishful thinking I reckon.'

'Well she did describe him as tall, dark and well muscled.' Replied Reeve, grinning.

Barrett guffawed loudly, and set Cid and Red off laughing. Vincent's face stayed impassive, as ever, also curiously so, did Tifa's, although a certain twist to her mouth suggested she was trying not to laugh. Yuffie got up suddenly and went to pour herself a glass of water from the jug at the back of the room.

'Yes, ha-ha, very amusing everyone.' Cloud said, sarcastically. 'Now that everybody's here, I'd like your attention if possible…'

* * *

_Authors Notes: Heh, I just inserted the Vincent and Yuffie scene on a bit of a whim really. This isn't meant to be a story about their relationship, I just thought it was time to put something less deep and miserable into the story. Please r&r, Chapter 12 will be up really soon! LOL_


	12. Northern Lights

**Fountain of Memories**

**Chapter 12: Northern Lights**

Snow was stinging her eyes, Tifa blinked and wiped the snow from her face with a gloved hand. She pulled the hood of her heavy cloak further down over her face, and concentrated on putting one booted foot in front of the other. 

'Is that Icicle Village up ahead?' Shouted Cid, pointing. Tifa looked up and promptly tripped over the snow. A hand grabbed her arm before she hit the ground, and helped her up.

'Careful Teef.' Cloud said quietly, 'We're nearly there now.' Tifa was surprised to notice that Cloud didn't let go of her arm, she smiled slightly to herself.

* * *

The villagers were all gathered outside their homes when they entered the village. The women held the children fearfully, a few of the children were crying. One woman was weeping into another's shoulder. Most of the men were carrying weapons, and they turned with unfriendly faces as Cloud approached.

'Who are you people?' One man growled, shifting the gun he held. 'We don't want no strangers here at a time like this.'

'Now don't be so hasty, Marc.' Said another man, glaring at Cloud. 'How do we know it wasn't these people who made off with the children?' The crowd began to mutter angrily. 

' I think we've arrived with excellent timing, as usual.' Red muttered sarcastically.

Cloud crossed his arms and matched glare for glare. 'We're not the people you're looking for. We've only just arrived…'

Tifa closed her eyes. Why did Cloud always have to act so aggressive? In this situation it definitely wasn't the best course of action to take.

'Headed north are you?' Asked the man named Marc. 'Just like that woman the other day eh? Going to meet her are you? Friends of hers eh?' He growled, advancing on the group. 'Well she's chief suspect. Reckon she'd come back for you if she thought you were in trouble?' He made a signal and the men were on them before they could even reach for their weapons. 

Tifa didn't even try to struggle against the man holding her. Another had a gun pointed at her face. She couldn't even turn her head to see the others but she guessed that the same was happening to them. She heard a brief struggle which was ended by a strange gasp, just as if someone had been kicked in the stomach.

The woman who had been sobbing on her friends shoulder looked up and wiped her eyes. She looked straight at Tifa, frowned slightly, walked forward and placed her hand on Marc's shoulder and said something to him. Walking passed him she walked up to where Cloud was knelt in the snow his teeth gritted. Clearly it had been him who had attempted to struggle. The woman bent down in front of him and gently lifted his chin. She looked into his eyes and smiled slightly. Straightening up she turned around balefully, arms crossed.

'You stupid dimwits!' She snapped, at the men ' This is Cloud Strife. Don't any of you remember faces? These people came and stayed in my inn before they went to the Glacier and besides that, their faces were splashed all over the papers after they saved us from Meteor.' The men looked almost bashful as they lowered their weapons, shuffling their feet like naughty schoolchildren. ' So instead of attacking friendly strangers who walk into our humble village why don't you go out and try _looking _for my children.' She finished angrily.

'Come on lads let's go search the forest.' Said Marc leading the men towards the dark shape of the woods.

The innkeeper turned back to where Cloud was getting slightly unsteadily to his feet. 'As you can see you've come at a bad time but let no-one say I ever turn weary travellers away from the warmth of my inn.' She motioned her hand for them to follow. 'Come and warm yourselves by the fire.'

* * *

Tifa sat besides Yuffie as the others left the fireside to take a look at the rooms they had been given. Apparently they would be some sharing involved, and the men had looked to be in an arm-wrestling mood, which probably meant that Cid would end up with a sprained wrist again, and that he would end up sharing a room with Barret, who was notorious for his 'road-digger' snoring.

Yuffie was watching them go, chewing a nail thoughtfully. 'Y'know maybe I should go with them, cause no-one ever wants to share a room with Vinnie and I think he might end up sharing a room with Red again if I don't hurry.

'Yuffie can I have a word.' Tifa said with a serious look on her face. Yuffie had the decency to look slightly embarrassed.

'Sorry about this morning Teef. I didn't want to lie to you but…' A red flush came to her cheeks again.

Tifa smiled gently, 'It did come as a little bit of a shock. I guess I didn't expect… anything like that between you and Vincent for quite awhile. What with it being Vincent and all. But I guess I forgot how much time you two have been spending together over the last few months. Sorry if I sound patronising Yuffie but… are you sure he's over… Lucrecia?'

Yuffie smiled slightly and looked directly at her friend's face, 'To be honest Teef… it's a big shock to me too. Can you imagine the feeling when someone who you've admired and loved, who seems so far away, so different from yourself looks into your eyes and confirms that he feels the same way.' She sighed slightly, 'Maybe it does seem fast, I'm so caught up and Vinnie… Under his coldness and cynisism he just wants to be loved, although he feels he doesn't deserve it I think.' 

Tifa hugged her friend, 'I'm so glad your happy Yuffie, and I can tell Vincent is too, although it's harder to tell with him. I guess I just had to play the mother figure and check he was good enough for little Yuffie so I wouldn't have to send daddy around to kick his butt.' 

Yuffie laughed, 'Not so little Yuffie anymore. And can you imagine anyone's dad trying to kick Vincent's butt?'

Tifa grinned in reply, 'I guess I could probably have sent Cloud after him with a big pointy stick.' She laughed and shook her head at that image. There was a loud groan of pain from the top of the stairs, which sounded like Cid losing an arm-wrestling match against Cloud. 'I think we'd better go and get ourselves rooms. You any good at arm-wrestling, Yuffie?' Tifa asked, flexing her arm comically.

Yuffie laughed, 'Not really. But I might challenge Red to a thumb-war. I think he might be at a bit of a disadvantage…' They went up the stairs arm in arm.

* * *

Tifa sighed as she pulled off her boots and flopped out onto the soft bed. She'd been right about the outcome of the arm-wrestling. She'd last seen Cid looking for some cotton wool to put in his ears. Yuffie had innocently offered to share Vincent's room, claiming that she would scream the place down if he tried anything. Tifa had to conceal a smile at Vincent's dead-pan reply that of course he wouldn't do a thing.

Of course that left Tifa sharing with Cloud. Red was sharing with Reeve, since Yuffie had firmly shut the door on him, and he'd protested that with his heightened sense of hearing, Barrets night-time highway repair work would leave ringing in his ears for days.

She wasn't too bothered anyway. They'd slept in worse and more crowded places than this when they had been looking for Sephiroth. At least she didn't have to share a bed with anyone. Yuffie always kicked her to death (she felt momentarily sorry for Vincent) and the one time she'd shared a bed with Cloud -fully clothed and in a room with all the others - he'd started hugging her arm and sucking his thumb. Barret and Cid had never let him live that one down.      

Cloud had left the room to allow her to get ready for bed. She'd carefully packed pyjamas for this eventuality, and so put them on and slid beneath the patchwork quilt of one of the single beds. She sighed happily as she laid her head on the pillow, and was asleep almost immediately.

* * *

Tifa was already asleep by the time Cloud returned to their room. She looked so peaceful lying with her knee-length hair carefully tied into a bun-knot to prevent it from smothering her in the night he supposed. He carefully turned away and started to undress, and started to curse to himself. He'd nothing to wear to bed. He normally slept naked anyway and it had completely slipped his mind. Of course he hadn't exactly expected to have to share a room with Tifa. Well he'd just have to leave his pants on and hope he woke up before she did.

Lying back on the bed he switched off the lamp and stared at the ceiling whilst his eyes adjusted to the semi-darkness. The curtains were still open, and the multi-coloured lights which danced across the skyline in this region, lit up the room with a faint, shimmering glow. Cloud found it distracting, as he was used to sleeping in complete darkness. Getting up, he stumbled over to the window and reached out to shut the curtains. He stopped suddenly, and leaned closer to the window.

Green light flashed between the trees in the nearby forest. Every now and then a beam of it would shine straight up towards the sky. Almost like someone with a torch. Cloud remembered that the men had been searching for the children. He'd been so tired that he'd completely forgotten. It must be their torches he could see as they searched. He frowned, still, that particular shade of green was quite disturbing.

A cool hand touched his shoulder and he spun around quickly. A little too quickly he realised as he lost his balance. The pair of cool hands grabbed him and steadied him. He looked up into Tifa's dark eyes, and straightened up so he could face her.

'What's going on in that forest, Cloud?' She whispered, staring passed him.

He turned slightly to stare back out at the forest, acutely aware that she still hadn't taken her hands off him. ' Maybe they're still looking for the children. Torchlight?'

Tifa leaned closer and shook her head, 'Green torchlight? I think we should get out there Cloud. It worries me.' 

Cloud looked down at the top of her head. She was leaning past him, staring intently out of the window. Her right hand was on his back, her body pressed to his side. He coughed suddenly, and moved away from the window. Tifa barely seemed to notice and continued to frown out at the dark shape of the woods and it's strange green lights.

Trying not to think about her, he pulled on his clothes, and pulled out his sword from beneath the bed. He loosened it slightly from it's sheath, and a blue glow escaped. This was the Ultima Weapon, the strongest sword he had ever wielded. Reeve had kept all of their best weapons in the armoury after they had defeated Sephiroth as it had seemed unlikely that they would need to use the power of their best weapons again. Looking back he realised how naïve they had been to hope it was over.

Cloud slung the weapon onto his back and shifted it until it lay comfortably across his shoulders. He was glad that Reeve had agreed to return their ultimate weapons for this mission. Having the Ultima Weapon on his back always made him feel more at ease. The sword seemed to have it's own strange aura of confident strength, as if it had a consciousness.

Turning back to Tifa, he saw her tightening the straps on her Premium Heart gloves. She was already dressed in a white top, tight fawn coloured leggings and brown knee high boots. 

Her ebony eyes regarded him for a second. 'Let's go.' Her voice was low, barely audible but her tone brooked no argument. Cloud merely nodded and led the way out of the inn.

* * *

The forest was strangely silent Tifa realised. The only sounds she could hear was the crunch of snow and pine needles under their feet, and their breathing. Shouldn't there be animals, the sound of the shifting snow or at least the sound of dripping water as ice melted? There was nothing, and the green light was getting worse. Every now and then beams of it would flash between the trees and temporarily blind both her and Cloud. Cloud had taken to drawing his sword every time this happened, ready for a surprise attack, but when none came after about the fifth time of this happening he didn't bother to re-sheathe Ultima Weapon and held it ready in his hands. 

Tifa thought that the bright blue glow was a bit of a give away to anyone after them, but she said nothing. She wasn't sure how long they had been stumbling through the forest before they found the body. Her foot had come down on something soft and it had turned out to be a dismembered hand. The rest of the body was buried in a snowdrift a few feet away. Since both she and Cloud had excellent night vision they hadn't bothered with a torch, but from the light of Ultima Weapon it seemed to be one of the men who had been searching for the children.

'Something's stalking the men in this forest, Cloud.' Tifa whispered, covering the body back up with snow. 'And it's not an animal. He would have been eaten if it had been a wolf or another scavenger.'

Cloud nodded and readied his sword, 'Aurora. I can feel her nearby.' He shielded his eyes as another flash of light filled the forest, and then pointed towards the source of the light. 'C'mon Teef we might be too late!' He began running steadily through the forest, dodging branches and somehow avoiding tree roots. Tifa followed him, just managing to keep up. When he stopped suddenly she nearly ran into his back.

Aurora was stood in the middle of the clearing emitting a pulsating green glow. In one hand she effortlessly held a large figure up by the throat, and in the other hand she held the Masamune. She started to speak in a language Tifa couldn't understand, her voice was strangely warped by echoes and sounded as if several people spoke at once, almost simultaneously, but not quite. A strange hum started to fill the clearing, a green haze began to circle the man that Aurora held, and he began to thrash around more violently. 

Tifa wanted to move, to rush in and knock Aurora out of her trance, but found that her muscles wouldn't move. As Aurora's chanting rose to a crescendo, the hum became louder and the green mist became brighter. Tifa wanted to clap her hands over her ears but she couldn't. She couldn't move. She couldn't do anything but watch as Aurora raised the Masamune, still chanting. 

The blade left a silver arc in the air as it chopped downwards and severed the man's arm. He screamed, but the green haze that coiled around him like a snake filled his nostrils and mouth, and moved to cover the bleeding wound where his arm had been. It began to pulsate over the wound, like a leech feeding. Tifa watched in horror as it began to glow a brighter and brighter green as the man's struggles became weaker and weaker.

Aurora snapped something in the strange language and the bright green light which surrounded the man, streamed out of his nose, mouth and away from the wound in his arm to form a ball of crackling energy above his head. Aurora contemptuously tossed the still body of the man to one side, and Tifa realised with a sickening feeling that there seemed to be a pile of bodies beside Aurora.

The white-haired woman raised her arms, the Masamune pointing towards the ground and again snapped a word. The ball of magic exploded, filling the forest with white-green light. As Tifa watched she saw the bright light from the explosion seemed to curl in on itself and suddenly she realised that Aurora was polling the magic back towards her. The girl was floating as the magic streamed around her, filling her skin with sparks and whirling green lights until that too faded. 

Aurora lowered to the ground, head bowed and eyes closed. Her bright green eyes opened suddenly, and green light edged with white came off her like flames. Slowly she turned her head to where Tifa and Cloud stood, frozen at the edge of the clearing. She smiled nastily and began to walk slowly towards them. Tifa tried to make her legs move, in her mind she was screaming for her to run, to fight to do something, but her body just stood still. 

The Masamune was raised above Aurora's head, and she was close. The nasty smile never left her face as she looked at Cloud. 

'Poor little Cloud.' She said in mock sympathy. 'Now you will be able to watch me kill another woman that you love, and yet again, you cannot save her. What a pity you ran away instead of spending time with her while she was alive.' Aurora shook her head, her twisted smile back in place. 'Ah well too late now.' She brought the Masamune down towards Tifa's head. 

Tifa did the only thing she could do. 

She closed her eyes.


End file.
